Your Credit Reports Are Your Financial Portrait
Much of the purchasing made by individuals are done with the use of credits or loans. You get a car through a car loan, a house via a mortgage, your education through educational loans or just about any other need through the use of credit cards. Gone were the days when you had to carry load of cash to buy what you require.
However, before you are given a credit facility by any bank or financial institution, they would need to first find out something about your background. They can do that by reviewing your credit reports. It is therefore a must that you review your them before applying for a loan or a mortgage lest you risk the possibility of getting disapproved.
The entities that are in charge of gathering and selling this information are the consumer reporting agencies (CRAs). A credit bureau is the most common type of a CRA. Currently, there are smaller bureaus operating in the United States along with the three major ones. Just as there are three main agencies, there are also three types of credit reports, namely, the annual, the business and the consumer reports.
Experian, Equifax and TransUnion are the 3 major credit agencies where people get their reports from. All three maintain the “annual credit report”. It can legally be requested by individuals from any of the three agencies every year for free. An extra copy will require a fee though.
Most of the agencies in the country maintain the “consumer credit report”. This one however is not free of charge but can be requested anytime of the year as long as the fees are paid. You can access the report online. Likewise not free of charge is the last type, the “business credit report”. It contains the credit history of a certain company or business.
A credit report basically contains several information, first of which is the “identifying information”. This includes the name and aliases, the addresses and social security number and other pertinent details such as the date of birth, employer details and your spouse’s identifying details.
The second content of a credit report is the credit information which are the usual credit details that would include the existing bank accounts, past and present loans and mortgages, payment details, possible delays in the payment of loans as well as the actions for the failure to pay the past loans. The third information contained therein is the public record information which is the person’s court and other legal records connected to the credit history. The 4th and final information is the name of those who obtained copies of said report.
Getting the different reports from the three major credit agencies mentioned above is very vital to someone who intends to get a loan or a mortgage. These reports will enable you to already know your chances of your loan and will therefore prevent unsavory surprises. Reviewing all three reports will also assure you that no mistakes or errors in details are in the report.
