What is included in your credit reports?

There’s a lot of important information in your credit report. Everything from your personal information and your credit accounts to your public records can be found here.

Personal information

Your personal information is shown in your credit reports, including your name, your current and previous addresses, your social security number and your employer information.

• Legal name
• Current and previous addresses
• Date of birth
• Social security number
• Employer information
• Listed phone numbers

Credit accounts

Credit reports also include information about your accounts such as credit cards, auto loans, student loans and mortgages. They also include information like late payments, collections and timelines associated with these accounts.

• Current and former credit cards
• Auto loans
• Student loans
• Mortgages
• Credit limits and amounts
• Account balances
• Account payment histories
• Open and close dates of accounts
• Names of all creditors
• Collection items and accounts

Public records

Your credit reports also contains a list of businesses that have pulled your credit. This includes instances when you applied for a new credit account or when a business pulled your credit for promotional purposes. Public records are also included.

• Credit inquiries
• Liens
• Foreclosures
• Bankruptcies
• Civil suits and judgements
• Child support payments

Why are credit reports important?

Credit reports are incredibly important because the information in them is used to calculate your credit score. Your credit score is calculated based on your payment history, credit utilization, age of your credit accounts, number of hard inquiries and different types of credit—all of which is recorded in your credit report. Any late payments, bankruptcies or other negative items listed on your credit reports will negatively affect your overall credit score.

Your credit score shows whether you are a credit risk to potential lenders. If any information in your credit reports is inaccurate, it could be hurting your credit score as well as your chances of getting approved for new credit. Lenders aren’t the only ones who can access your credit reports. Employers can also check your credit reports. Not every employer does this, but a lot of jobs in finance want to see if you’re financially responsible. Government jobs that require security clearance are also known to check credit reports.

Checking your credit reports

Monitoring your credit helps you know what information is in your credit reports at all times. Sometimes, errors may pop up and you will need to dispute them.

If you want to improve your credit, the first thing you should do is request to see your credit reports. Checking your reports helps you understand what’s helping your score and what is hurting your score. When checking your credit reports for errors that may be hurting your credit score or indications that you may have been a victim of identity theft, make sure that:

1. Your personal information is accurate – You shouldn’t find any unfamiliar addresses listed in your credit report, for example.
2. You recognize all open and closed credit accounts – You should be able to recognize all of the accounts listed in your credit report, even the ones that are no longer active.
3. Your credit account balances are all accurate – It may take your credit report a 30 – 45 days to update after any changes, but your listed balances should be accurate.

Considering that lenders will look at your credit report as well as your score, it can be helpful to look at your credit reports if you’re about to apply for something big, like an auto loan or a mortgage. The better your credit score, the more likely you’ll be able to get approved and have a lower interest rate. Having your credit reported a few months before you apply gives you the chance to fix anything that may be negatively impacting you.