Credit Reports

What information is on a credit report?

A credit report contains a list of all your credit activities, including your credit accounts, outstanding loans, credit card balances, and bill paying history, as well as some personal information. Most of the information on your credit report comes from the businesses you have outstanding loans or accounts with, including banks, mortgage companies,and credit card companies. Lenders usually report your credit information - good or bad - to credit bureaus.

Credit Report Information

More specifically, there are four main categories of information in your credit report.

1. Personal information

Your credit report contains personal information about you, including:

• Your name
• Your social security number
• Your date of birth
• Your phone number
• Your current employer and previous employers
• Your current address and previous addresses

2. Credit history

Your credit report includes your history of bill paying to lenders such as

• Banks
• Retail stores
• Finance companies
• Mortgage companies

3. Credit Report Inquiries

Your credit report lists the credit grantors and lenders that have requested to see your credit report. Requests to see your credit report from potential lenders are referred to as "hard inquiries," while your own requests to see your credit report are called "soft inquiries." The general rule is the fewer hard inquiries on your credit report, the better your credit score. Soft credit report inquiries do not affect your credit score; therefore, you can check your credit report as often as you'd like.

4. Public records

Any item that may affect your credit will be listed on your credit report. These items include

• Bankruptcies
• Tax liens
• Court judgments

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