Your Credit Report

Your credit report provides information to current and prospective creditors to help you make purchases, secure loans, pay for college educations and manage your personal finances. Credit reporting makes it possible for stores to accept your checks, banks to offer credit and debit cards, businesses to market products, and corporations to better manage their operations to benefit the world's economy.

Your credit report is only compiled when you or a lender makes an inquiry. Information supplied by lenders, you and court records is gathered from the credit reporting agency's file and presented in report format for the requester.

Credit grantors send updates to each of the credit reporting agencies, usually once a month. These updates include information about how their customers use and pay their accounts.

Your Credit Profile

Your credit profile details your credit history as it has been reported to the credit reporting agencies by lenders who have extended credit to you. Your credit profile lists what types of credit you use, the length of time your accounts have been open, and whether you've paid your bills on time. It tells lenders how much credit you've used and whether you're seeking new sources of credit.

Basically, it is a picture of how you paid back the companies you have borrowed money from and how you have met other financial obligations.

There are usually five categories of information on a credit profile:

There are many items that are NOT included on your credit profile, including: