| Click on our Advertisement |
|
|
A credit report is a record of your credit activities. It lists all the credit-card accounts or loans you may have, the balances, and how regularly you make your payments. It also shows if any action has been taken against you because of unpaid bills. In another way, a consumer credit report is a factual record of an individual's credit payment history. Its main purpose is to help a lender quickly and objectively decide whether to grant you credit.
If you have any type of a charge account, car loan, student loan or home mortgage, then information about you is probably stored in a consumer credit database. Most of the information in your consumer credit report comes directly from the companies you do business with, but some information come from public records also. The concept of credit score has a close relation with credit report as all of its characteristics come from the trade line, public record and inquiry section of the credit report.
In today’s world, popularly used credit cards are making the heart of credit reports. Availability of these cards is endowing people with numerous advantages. People are now more sophisticated and they can ask for whatever they want in a minute. But before you apply for a credit card you have to follow some procedures. In order to avail a credit card or loan, you should review a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus\credit reporting agencies to avoid any surprises. Three of the major credit reporting agencies in the US at this time are Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. Apart from these, there are several credit report services that sell annual subscriptions, often in the $50 to $100 range, that keep you informed of all modifications to your credit report.
Online credit reports are also present, which are very easy to get. You can easily check your credit history by getting an online credit report and take appropriate course of actions in establishing or re-establishing or cleaning up your credit report.
If you are denied credit, you will certainly want to take a closer look at your credit report to spot any errors or see if there are any omissions. You can get free credit reports online if you have been deprived of a loan or employment because of your credit reports.
Remember that if you are denied credit for reasons based on the content of your credit report, you have the right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to receive a free credit report from the issuing credit bureaus within 60 days of receiving a credit-denial notice.
Avoidance of excessive inquiries on your credit report is also a matter to think over. Hard and soft are two kinds of inquiries that you can have. Hard inquiry is an inquiry made by a creditor\ lender as a result of applying for credit or loan. On the other hand, all other inquiries are soft inquiries, which are not related to obtaining credit or loan such as when a consumer requests a copy of their report.
A consumer is able to see both hard and soft inquiries if they are viewing a copy of their own report. Creditors and lenders can only see hard inquiries on a consumer’s credit report. Therefore they are not able to use soft inquiries in making any credit related decision.
All insurance inquiries are considered soft. Thus, creditors\ lenders do not have access to insurance inquiries. Thus, it is very important for you to check your credit report before applying for a major loan or a credit card.
|
