Credit Report – how often has it impacted your life? Probably more often than you really like. If you have ever applied for a new home loan, car loan, or a credit card, your credit report has been pulled by the lender for review. Depending on your credit report and the credit score the information in your credit report will play a major role to get credit at all and what your interest rate will be. The higher and better your credit score is, the easier it is to get credit at affordable rates.

Your credit report affects many areas of your life and it is important that you know what is contained within it. As an example - it is not unusual nowadays for a potential employer or landlord to look at your credit report and to base a hiring decision or lease on the results.

Review your credit report frequently. By law you are entitled to one free report per year from each of the 3 major credit bureaus. You can request a copy of your credit report through one or all of the major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Spend the time to review your report and to correct any errors.

What is your credit report? Your credit report is pretty much a summary of your bill and credit payment. It shows credit applications, granted loans, denied credit applications and how much credit (dollar amount) you have available (available credit limits). It also shows your monthly debt payments like mortgage or car loan payments that you make (or fail to make). The credit report also contains your personal information such as your home address and previous address, eventually the employment history, and your Social Security number. Credit accounts such as store credit cards, mortgages, car loans, regular credit cards and bank line of credits are listed. And of course any failure to meet payments or information on defaulted loans will be listed on your credit report (including tax liens and bankruptcy). In most cases, negative credit information will be listed in your credit report for seven years. A bankruptcy situation will be listed on your credit report for ten years.

About the Author

Christoph Puetz is a successful entrepreneur and international book author. His small business related website is Small Business Land. One of the other websites he maintains can be found at Credit Repair Info.

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