Credit Reports Defined
Your credit report is a document that offers potential lenders — or employers, or insurance companies — a report card on your ability to handle debt. It is created as soon as you establish a bank account, begin work, save money, or acquire credit. The information accumulates from day one and can sit there forever.
Three credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — gather and dispense your credit information. Your credit report contains personal information, credit information, public information, and inquiry information, as follows:
Personal information: Your name, age, Social Security number, where you've lived, and where you've worked (and for how long)
Credit information: Accounts you've opened, cosigners, your credit limits, current balances, late payments, and delinquencies (accounts not paid)
Public information: Information gleaned from public agencies, such as bankruptcy filings, tax liens, judgments, arrests, and occasionally child-support payments
Inquiry information: A list of everyone who purchased your credit report over the last two years
Essential
A 2003 survey by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants revealed that approximately 30 percent of women describe themselves as “confident” or a “risk taker” when it comes to managing money. Time to dust off the mirror and see yourself as you truly are — empowered, educated, energetic, and extremely capable!
Although there are smaller companies that collect credit data, one — or all three — of the major credit reporting agencies will have 90 percent of your credit information on file. If you've been turned down for a loan, you can obtain a copy of the report that generated negative information that impacted the lender's decision free of charge. You are also entitled to one free report a year. Go online to AnnualCreditReport.com to request one free report from each of the three agencies.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was put in place to protect your privacy and establish rules for the collecting, reporting, and altering of information in your credit file. The law basically requires the credit reporting agencies to respond to your inquiries within 30 days of receipt of your complaint. They are required to investigate the matter free of charge and record the current status of the disputed item or to delete the item from your credit report.
Typically, they will mail a letter to the creditor to verify that the information is correct. If the creditor cannot validate the charges, the credit reporting agencies are required to delete the item from your report and notify other agencies.
They are also required to remove any information that pertains to someone else, correct any inaccurate information, and remove duplicate information. It is, therefore, extremely important that you comb through the reports with a fine-toothed comb and ferret out items that need to be removed or corrected. If you have brought a formerly delinquent account up to date, you can have that positive information inserted.
