What Your Lenders Look at by Getting a Copy of Your Credit Report

« « Finding the Right Credit Card Payment Software | Adverse Credit and Loans » »

Saturday, January 31st, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

When considering your application for any form of credit, be it a mortgage, auto financing or credit cards, your lenders will pull up a copy of your credit report from major credit bureaus, such as Equifax and Trans Union. The information that is contained inside will be used to determine whether to grant or deny you credit, and is also instrumental in deciding how much credit you qualify for and which interest rates you will be charged. Generally, those with an excellent credit report get better rates, as they are considered to be a lower risk of defaulting on a loan or frequently missing payments.

While there are other things that lenders will take into account, such as if you have any other business with them, as well as your income and current personal assets, information obtained from the credit bureau is often one of the major points taken into consideration when evaluating your application.

The information contained in your credit report first consists of personal data, such as your name, current and previous addresses, date of birth and social security number. It then lists all the current credit accounts that you hold, from which lenders, the amount of credit granted, as well as your payment habits. It also contains information about any accounts you have that are currently in collections, or if judgments have been issued against you. Lastly, it shows which institutions have made a request to see your credit report, called “inquiries”.

The credit bureaus also use a proprietary formula that is used to determine your credit worthiness based on the info contained in the report. It is called a credit score and is based on many factors, such as number of accounts currently open, ratio of balance owing vs. credit limits and timeliness of payments.

Hector Milla runs the My Free Credit Report website, where you can see his best rated free credit reporting companies recommendation, and the Improve Your Credit Score resources center. Find out how to get a 3 in 1 free credit report and credit score tips recommendation respectively, visit for further information.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.