About Your Credit
Credit Reports, Scores and the Credit Bureaus (Credit Reporting Agencies)
Credit Scores vs. Reports
There are some important differences between your credit report and credit score. Your credit report is a detailed look into your current and recent
credit history, while your credit score is an evaluation of your credit worthiness based on that report.
Credit Reports
A consumer credit report contains a record of an individual's credit payment history. Credit grantors are permitted by law to review your credit report
to determine whether to grant you credit or not. Every time you have opened a credit account, your credit report has been reviewed. As you pay
your bills, most lenders report credit payment information to the credit bureaus. So most of the information in your consumer credit report comes
directly from the companies that you do business with.
What's in a Credit Report?
A consumer credit report contains four types of information: identifying information, credit information, public record information and inquiries.
Identifying information includes:
* Your name
* Your current and previous addresses
* Your social security number
* Your year of birth
* Your current and previous employers
* If you are married, your spouse's name
Credit information includes credit accounts or loans that you have with:
* Banks
* Retailers
* Credit card issuers
* Other lenders
Public record information includes any information that is contained in state, county or federal court records, like:
* Bankruptcies
* Tax liens
* Monetary judgments
Inquiries are requests for information by companies who may be interested in obtaining business from you, or these companies are reviewing your
credit report periodically.
Credit Reporting Agencies (Credit Bureaus)
A credit reporting agency or credit bureau gathers, maintains and sells information about consumer credit histories. It collects information about
consumers payment habits from credit grantors and stores the information in a database, then sells the information to other credit grantors in the
form of a credit report.
There are three national consumer credit bureaus:
* Equifax
* Experian
* Trans Union
Although many national lending institutions report to all three agencies, many smaller banks or retail lenders report to only one. Your credit
report from one credit bureau may not necessarily be the same as that of another one of the credit bureaus. It is important to be familiar with your
credit report from each of the three national credit reporting agencies.