Credit Score Report: Do You Really Know What Is In This Report?Lenders use a person's credit score report to decide how much of a credit risk that person is. The report is usually issued when you apply for a consumer or business loan, a mortgage loan, or a credit card. Usually the lender requests the report from one of the many credit reporting agencies. The report summarizes your credit history into five different elements. Each of these five elements will then be used to represent a final part of your credit score rating. And each of these elements will be a certain percentage of the overall score. Mostly, the report contains information about your credit and payment history. Creditors look at the report to find the different types of payments that you are already making. These will include such payments made on credit cards, on retail accounts (store cards), as well as any loans you may have. If you have a mortgage loan, the report will also include details of payments made, and the estimated credit score on your mortgage. As well as showing the payments that you have made on your various accounts, the report also show the late or non payments. Your prospective lender will make a note of problem areas and then decide based on all the information provided in the report. It is not easy to say how a lender will decide because sometimes the lender will have to decide subjectively. For example, you may have a poor credit score but you are now making much more than you did when you built up the poor performance. Perhaps at time you were a student in college and did not have much disposable income. On the other hand, if you have had a spotty credit record for most of your adult life, lenders can make a quick decision without any extensive analysis. A spotty record means you are a high risk for any lender because you don't look reliable in the report. You are unreliable because lenders cannot trust you to keep your end of the bargain - that is, pay off your loan or other credit obligations. If you are worried about what your actual credit report is showing, then you can, by law, get a free copy of this report each year. This law was put in place in September 2005 and all Americans can get a free copy of this report. In order to get a free copy of your credit score report, all you need to do is contact one of the government approved sources and request it. So, no longer do you need to be kept in the dark about your credit scores and what problems, if any, that they may have. Fico Score >> Privacy Policy >> Disclaimer >> Terms Of Use >> About Us >> Contact Us |