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Credit Reports - What You Should Know About Them

By Suzy Vanstrusen

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 06Nov2009
Word count: 504
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A credit report is a very important piece of document. Based on an individual's credit report, a lender can either approve or disapprove your credit application. You can also get lower interest rates, higher credit limit, and better deals based on your credit score. Lenders often prefer applicants with high credit rating while those with low credit scores are often considered as high risk. What are some of the things that you should know about it? Why should you be interested to learn more about it?

What details can you find in your credit report?

There are four basic information included. These are your personal identification and employment history, your payment history, credit inquiries from lenders, and public information such as liens, foreclosures, court judgments and bankruptcies.

Who can access your credit report?

When you submit an application for a new credit or a new account, your prospective lender would check on your credit report to see whether your application can get approved or not. Aside from lenders, potential employers and landlords can also use your credit report to check on your background and reliability. Of course, government agencies can also check on an individual's credit report as source of personal information.

Can you fix your credit report?

If you have a problem with bad credit, there are steps you can do to improve your credit score such as negotiating with your creditors for new repayment terms. There are also credit repair companies that you can ask help from. However, beware of agencies promising instant "credit fix". Remember that negative information cannot be erased in your credit report unless you take positive steps towards rebuilding your credit. If the negative information are correct, you can only fix them by paying off your debts to your creditors.

A legitimate credit repair agency should help you find possible solutions to your debt problems, help you manage your finances better, budget your money, negotiate with creditors on your behalf and help you improve your credit gradually.

What information can you erase from a credit report?

If some information in your credit report are erroneous or incorrect, you can dispute these errors with your creditors and with the credit bureau issuing your report. In case of negative information or derogatory marks that has been in your report for 7 years or more , you can also request a credit bureau that these information be removed. In fact, it is recommended to personally check your credit report at least twice a year to make sure that it is accurate and free of errors. Order a copy of your credit report from each of three major credit reporting agencies- Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

What is the National Consumer Law?

Under the National Consumer Law, creditors or lenders should not deny an individual the credit he deserves if his credit report shows that he is a qualified candidate. It is against the consumer law for lender to refuse applicants based on their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other discriminating factors.

Suzy Vanstrusen is a credit analyst and a writer of the website EZCreditRepairSolutions.com and has been providing consumers with tips and tricks in repairing your credit. Check the site for more free credit repair tips and credit repair services.

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