About Your Credit Report

Once you’ve obtained a copy of your credit report, you need to watch out for the potentially negative items on the report. Your credit report will contain the following information that may have been reported to the credit reporting agencies in the past: your name, your addresses, your employers, your spouse’s name, what creditors have viewed your credit, and just what type of credit history you have and the amount of debt that is currently being reported to the agencies.

Also, on your report, you will find histories of your payments to creditors, how often you were more than thirty days late, and your credit score. You will not find your social security number on your credit report – for obvious reasons, but you may see your date of birth. All the information provided tells prospective creditors what type of credit you already have, what type of credit score you have, and whether you’ve paid on time in the past to other companies that have extended you credit.

If you don’t report errors or attempt to keep your credit rating higher, then negative entries can stay on your credit report for many years. A bankruptcy can stay on your credit for ten (10) years. Other negative credit entries can stay on your credit report for seven (7) years. And even after seven years, if the company sends the note or debt to collection and that debts is “sold off” or “transferred” to another collection agency, you could see that negative credit history reappear for yet another seven years. The only way to attempt to have that entry taken off of your credit report is to monitor your credit report. When you request credit from someone, such as apply for a loan – then all the creditors who have requested to review your credit history are listed. Creditors might look at these requests when determining whether or not to provide credit to you. These requests stay on your credit report for up to two (2) years. What about those requests that are initiated without your approval ( such as a credit card company seeking out credit reports to offer credit cards, employers checking your credit history, or your current creditors monitoring your credit accounts ? Well, those are reported only on the credit report that you, yourself, see, not to any of the credit reports requested by others.

There are items that will not be on your credit report. You will not find your social security number on your credit report – for obvious reasons, but you may see your date of birth. Here is a list of what is NOT on your credit report:
• Your Social Security Number
• Your Ethnicity
• Your Place of Birth
• Your Child/Children’s Name(s), Parents’ names
• Your Income ( how much you make )
• Your Religion
• A Criminal Background ( any misdemeanors or felonies)
• References
• Your sexual preference
• Whether you are divorced, single, married, etc. ( though when you are married, you will often see your spouse’s name – and often, if you don’t report to the credit agency that you are divorced, you may see your ex-spouse listed as a current spouse )
• Requests to see your credit by sources with a permissible purpose but not initiated by you ( such as an employer, your current creditors checking your credit accounts, or other creditors who want to offer you pre-approved credit )
 

These items are not on your credit report because they are either too telling ( such as a social security number ) or because they are not relevant to your credit score.