What is a Credit Bureau and What is or is not in a Credit Report?

Part 4: As part of series of articles (blogs) regarding Credit and Credit Score, here we go:

What is a Credit Bureau?

A credit bureau, also known as a credit reporting company, is an agency that collects and maintains individual credit information and then selling it to lenders, creditors, and consumers in the form of a credit report. There are several hundred local, national, and international credit bureaus and affiliates in the U.S. and aboard, most of them are small companies. The three major credit bureaus in the U.S. are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

What is a Credit Report?

A credit report, as explained above, is a collection of information about an individual showing his/her payment history, personal information and any derogatory information in public record.

What Types of Information are in a Credit Report?

A credit report includes information on where you have lived, where you have worked, how you have paid your bills, whether any action has been taken to collect overdue bills, and whether you’ve been sued or have filed for bankruptcy, etc.

What makes up a Credit Report?

Personal Profile:
Here you will find the personal information contained in your credit file, including your legal name(s), addresses that you had used in the past, current and previous employers, and date of birth.

Credit Summary:
This section gives you a broad look at your current and past credit status. Here you'll find the total number of open and closed accounts in your name, the individual and total balance on those accounts, and delinquencies. This section covers a summary for the following types of accounts: Real Estate Accounts, Revolving Accounts, and Installment Accounts.

Public Records:
The information in this section comes from federal district bankruptcy records, state and county court records, tax liens and monetary judgments, and in some states, overdue child support records. Public records remain on your credit report for 7-10 years.

Certain public records such as Judgments, Mechanical lien, Tax Lien, IRS Lien, and lawsuits do not have any direct negative impact on your credit score number, however, it is the reason that you will not be qualified to get a Mortgage loan unless you do something about them (clear them).

Credit Inquiries:
This section contains the names of those who obtained a copy of your credit report. Inquiries remain on your report for up to two years.

Account History:
This section contains specific information on each account you have opened in the past. Positive information about your accounts remain on your report, for as long as the account is open

 

What is not in a Credit Report?

Job Related Information:

·         Current Job Title and Position

·         Current Length of Employment

·         Current Salary or Wages

·         History of any of the above job related information from the past

Check Writing Information:

·         Number of Bad Checks

·         Amount of Bad Checks

·         Date of Bad Checks

Tax Related Information:

·         Amount of Income Tax paid/received/owed

·         Amount of Property Tax paid/owed

·         Date of Taxes Due

Child Support Related Information:

·         Amount of Child Support Payment

·         Frequency of Child Support Payments

·         Date of Child Support Payment Due

·         Date of Child Support Obligation Ending

Rental Related Information:

·         Amount of Rent Payment

·         Frequency of Rent Payment

·         Date of Rent Payment Due

·         Date of Rent Payment Obligation Ending

Medical Related Information:

·         Medical Records

·         Medical Conditions

Marital Status Information:

·         Married, divorced, widowed, etc.

·         Date of Marriage, divorce,

·         Any children you have and how many.

HOW to overcome the problems with your credit history and credit score?
Knowledge, education, awareness, practice and discipline are the essential keys to being successful on any subject. The book, "Credit Score Tips and Tricks", provides you information, tools, techniques to educate yourself and manage your credit report & credit score, and therefore manage your finances effectively at no additional cost.

I have decided to bring and share with you, chapters or sections of the book, Credit Score Tips and Tricks, as series of articles here. This is the number 4 of such a series.

I also created and manage a GROUP in ActiveRain, Credit Reports and Credit Scores, Please feel free to join and share your thoughts and experiences.

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