Credit Report
Credit report summary:
A credit report is a comprehensive record of your experience with credit accounts. The major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, generate credit reports.
Credit reports also contain personal information such as your name, social security number, employer, address, and past addresses. It does not include information about bank balances, race or ethnicity, marital status, or medical history.
You can check your credit reports once a week for free by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com.
Credit report definition and meaning
A credit report shows your current and past credit accounts, and how you’ve used them. Credit reports are issued by credit bureaus. In the U.S., the three major credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Your credit report represents a detailed record of your credit history and is tied to your Social Security number. The information in your credit reports comes from your creditors and public records.
Credit reports play an important role in lending decisions. The information in your reports could influence your ability to borrow and how much you'll pay for loans or lines of credit.
Credit report
Credit reports tell lenders about you—specifically, how you've used credit and managed debt in the past. When you get a loan or line of credit, your creditor will probably report details about your account to the credit bureaus. That information gets added to your credit reports. Creditors aren’t required to report your accounts, but most do.
If you have at least one credit account in your name, then you likely have at least one credit report.
Where do credit reports come from?
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion furnish credit reports to lenders, consumers, and other entities. The information in credit reports comes directly from lenders and public records. For example, if you get a car loan, the lender will probably report the loan amount and your payment history to one or all three of the credit bureaus.
What's in a credit report?
Credit reports include a variety of information about you and your credit use. Personal information listed on a credit report includes:
Your name and any names you're known by
Current and former addresses
Current and former employers
Contact numbers
Your birth date and Social Security number
Your credit information covers:
Credit accounts in your name, such as loans or credit cards
Credit account balances and credit limits
Payment history, including late or missed payments
Collection accounts and charge-offs
Foreclosures or short sales
Bankruptcies
The names of companies that have viewed your credit report
Credit reports don’t include information about your bank account balances, your race or ethnicity, marital status, religion, medical history, political affiliation, or criminal history if you have one.
It’s a good idea to get familiar with your credit reports so you can verify that your information is correct. Your credit scores are based on the information on your credit reports. Errors could hurt your credit scores.
How do you check a credit report?
You can check your credit reports for free every week through AnnualCreditReport.com. You'll need to create an account and verify your Social Security number. Once you've done that, you can view your credit reports online.
It doesn't hurt your credit score to check your credit reports yourself. This type of inquiry is called a soft credit check or soft pull and has no impact on your score.
Hard inquiries, on the other hand, happen when a lender or another entity checks your credit because you’ve applied for credit. Hard credit checks typically take a few points away from your credit scores.
Credit Report FAQs
How often should I review my credit report?
It's a good idea to review your credit reports from each of the three major credit bureaus at least once a year. You might want to review them quarterly or monthly if you're concerned about fraud, or you're working on improving your scores.
Can checking my own credit score cause it to drop?
Checking your own credit scores or credit reports won't cause your score to drop. When you check your credit, it's called a "soft pull" or "soft inquiry." Soft credit checks have no impact on credit reports or scores.
Does closing a credit card account affect my credit score?
Closing a credit card account could affect your credit score if you close it with a balance because your credit utilization ratio will go up (and lower is better). The account's age and payment history still matter, even on a closed account. Closed accounts in good standing stay on your credit reports for 10 more years. Collections, late payments, and charge-offs are removed from your credit reports seven years after the date of delinquency.
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