What is in your credit report?

Although every credit reporting agency formats and reports information differently, all credit reports contain essentially the same general categories of information. Your social security number, your date of birth, your place of residence and employment information are used to identify you.  These particular factors are not used in the scoring process.  In most cases, these data are updated through the information that you supply to lenders.

• Identifying Information
  Your name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, and employment information are used to uniquely identify you. These factors are not used in scoring. Updates usually come from information that you supply to lenders or that you provide directly to the various credit reporting agencies (CRAs) to correct inaccuracies or outdated information.
   

• Tradelines
  These are the historical records of your various credit accounts (e.g., revolving credit, installment loans, mortgages, etc.).  Lenders report on each account that you may have established with them.  They report the type of account (e.g., credit card, auto loan, equity line, mortgage, etc), the date the account was opened, your high credit limit or loan amount, the current account balance, and a detailed payment history including all late payments.  Please refer to our Risk Factor Reason Codes, to better understand how these are interpreted.
  NOTE: Mortgage lenders report information so precisely that whenever a detailed Residential Mortgage Credit Report is ordered, the report indicates the precise number of days your payment had been posted before or after the due date.  Do you still think that you are being shrewd by remitting payment toward the end of your grace period?  Think again, hot shot! It does not cost much in interest to pay your mortgage early and improve your payment history.
   

• Public Record and Collection Items
  Credit reporting agencies also collect public record filings from State and County court records, and information on overdue debt from collection agencies.  Public record information includes bankruptcies, foreclosures, judgments, State or Federal tax liens, lawsuits, garnishments, etc.
   

• Inquiries
  Whenever you apply for credit, you authorize the lender to request copies of your consumer credit report. This is the most common method for inquiries appearing on your credit report. The inquiry section contains a comprehensive list of all who have accessed your credit report within the past one or two years. The report lists both voluntary inquiries (from your application for credit) and involuntary inquires (such as those pulled by a prospective employer, or "promotional" requests for pre-approved credit card offers).  Please refer to our Inquiries page for further details.

According to TransUnion's take on things, "The credit reporting industry has long played an integral role in the American economy.  By providing updated consumer information to help credit grantors make fast and accurate decisions for consumer credit transactions, credit reporting agencies are helping fuel economic growth."

Placing this tired bit of fluff in proper perspective:  accurate credit reporting does, indeed, provide benefits to consumers with good credit.  It enables consumers to optimize their borrowing power by opening or expand credit lines, obtaining the best possible credit terms, amongst other benefits.  Inaccurate credit reporting is antithetical, costing honest borrowers billions of dollars in unwarranted interest costs.

Accurate credit reporting also provides business with reliable data that enables the business to make timely credit decisions for their existing customer base and new business prospects.  In turn, this reduces the costs associated with ongoing risk assessment, loss mitigation, and the potential for fraud.  Inaccurate credit reporting can cost business plenty ... lost customers, lost revenue, and, when improperly monitored, it may cost an entire business!

Accuracy is paramount.  Inaccurate credit reports do a disservice to both the consumer and potential credit guarantors.  Far too many inaccuracies go uncorrected.  Whenever a credit reporting agency claims that their records are "spot on", remind them of the independent study behind Mistakes Do Happen 2004 which revealed that nearly four out of every five credit reports contain errors!

Nearly one third of the credit reports in the survey contained closed accounts that were listed as open and active.  One quarter of the credit reports contained errors that may result in credit denials (e.g., false delinquencies, accounts belonging to others).  22% of the reports contained duplicate tradelines.  Nearly 8% of the credit reports were missing vital account data that demonstrates creditworthiness. 19 pages