Credit Reporting Services

Credit reporting services are agencies that keep tabs on all your credit history. There are three main credit reporting services, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. if you want a concise report, you should get a report from all three companies. Each firm has all the main factors regarding your credit, but they can differ a bit. All their services are regulated by the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and must abide by these standards.

Anytime you apply for credit, for a mortgage or a loan, your credit is checked through one or all three of the credit reporting services. Each credit reporting service keeps a summary of your accounts and their status. Any nicknames you have used when applying for credit will also be listed as would your date of birth and all your debts, new and old. Some debts, like a bankruptcy, can remain on your record for up to 10 years. And keep in mind, that filing a bankruptcy does not erase your bad debt history, it gets updated, but not deleted. Although the debts are removed, the record of them remains for 7 to 10 years.

Everyone should be aware of what is on their credit report. This can be done easily just by requesting it from the credit reporting service. You are allowed one free report every twelve months from the big three companies, after that you have to pay for each additional copy. Before you apply for any credit or loan, it is prudent to know what the credit reporting service has to say about you. There can be erroneous information on your report. To dispute any incorrect information, you must advise the credit agencies of the item and request that it be removed. They will then investigate this and remove any item that has been listed in error.

Credit reporting services also offer other options, such as daily credit monitoring to avoid identity theft. Some have online consumer credit advice columns to you updated with current laws and financial considerations. There are also credit reporting services that do the credit checks for businesses. They do background checks, criminal record checks and Dept. of Motor vehicle checks. The information received from these services are also used for things like tenant screening. Your credit report and score are crucial to many things in this life, and aside from knowing what is on your report, maintaining a good credit record will help to make life a bit easier.

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