If you have recently been denied credit or plan to apply for credit soon, it would be wise to obtain your credit report. You know that it is a document that is the foundation of a decision on whether you will receive credit.
We can obtain copies of our credit report for free, on an annual basis, from the three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Go to annualcreditreport.com to obtain these copies. Please request reports from all 3 agencies because they may differ.
The reports will have several sections. Know that there will not be personal private information about your race, worth, or salary included. There will be the usual identifying such as name, address, social security number in the first section.
There will be a section related to any credit lines. These credit lines will include loans, mortgages, credit cards, gas and department store cards. It will give the date each credit line was opened, credit limits, payment history (including late payments), balances, overdrawn bank accounts, and unpaid child support.
The court system also provides information to credit reporting agencies. Such reported information will include bankruptcies, divorce, judgments, and liens.
Any time you apply for a loan or credit card there will be an inquiry made to a credit reporting agency. Your credit report will include not only these inquiries but inquiries by you. Credit inquiries remain for 2 years.
There is no problem if your credit report is positive. However, any true negative comments will stay on the report for 7 years. Bankruptcies stay on for 10 years.
It is our personal responsibility to monitor our own credit profile, have errors changed and work to repair our credit. Definitely request your credit reports from all 3 agencies, find discrepancies and mistakes and get them fixed.