Credit Bureaus – What You Need To Know

A credit bureau, or credit repository, is an entity that gathers information about consumers' credit histories. Your credit history/report includes information regarding the following items:

·         Identity information such as your name, address, social security number, spouse and date of birth.

·         Payment habits such as how promptly you have made payments to previous creditors.

·         Public records such as records of arrests, indictments, convictions, lawsuits, tax liens, marriage, bankruptcies, and court judgments.

·         Debts.

·         Other relevant credit data Information concerning your current employment such as the position you hold, length of your employment, and possibly your income.

·         Information about your personal history such as the number of dependents you have, your previous addresses and information about your previous employment.

Credit bureaus sell credit reports to credit grantors, such as banks, finance companies, and retailers. Credit grantors use credit reports to determine whether or not a potential borrower is creditworthy.

There are three major credit bureaus in the United States:

§         Equifax: 800-685-1111 website: www.equifax.com

§         Experian: 888-397-3742 website www.experian.com

§         Trans Union: 800-916-8800 website: www.transunion.com

These three bureaus provide nationwide coverage of consumer credit information. The credit bureaus are a for-profit system that generates billions of dollars in revenue each year from selling copies of credit reports to creditors and mailing lists. Trans Union made 1.5 BILLION dollars last year.

It is essential to understand that Credit Bureaus are nothing more than record keepers.

Simply put, they keep a record of who has given you credit, when they gave you credit, how much credit you are given and whether or not you paid it back on time. When you want to obtain credit cards, loans, financing for a car or home, leases, apartments and sometimes even employment, the lender or bank will check your credit to see your financial history.

Credit Bureaus are paid by the people who request your credit file. Credit Bureaus are not run by banks, police, or government and they have no legal power over you. So don't be intimidated by them.

They are the Credit Bureaus because they own large computer systems capable of storing credit information on everyone in the United States. However, because of the tremendous amounts of information on their computers, their method of storing information is very basic and contains numerous errors.

Since the bureaus have made so many errors in the past, all Federal Laws regarding credit information is very much in your favor.

How do the credit bureaus obtain information?

Credit bureaus obtain identification and credit information from credit grantors, such as banks, retailers, and collection agencies. Bureaus obtain monetary-related public record information directly from the court systems.

How long do the credit bureaus keep my credit information?

The credit bureaus keep your personal credit history for a period of approximately ten years.

·         Closed or Inactive Accounts - 10 years from the date of last activity.

·         Derogatory Accounts - 7 years from the date of original delinquency.

·         Public Records - 7 years from the date of payment or indefinitely if the Public Record is an unpaid tax lien.

·         Chapter 7 Bankruptcies - 10 years from date filed.

There is no time limit on reporting: information about criminal convictions; information reported in response to your application for a job that pays more than $75,000 a year; and information reported because you’ve applied for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance.

Why should I check my credit report?

The information on your credit report can be used to determine whether or not you are able to:

ü       Buy a new car

ü       Rent an apartment

ü       Get a loan

ü       Qualify for other credit.

ü       Obtain special employment

By monitoring your personal credit report, you'll stay informed about your current credit rating.. You'll know which businesses and credit grantors have requested to view your credit report, which new accounts have been activated in your name, and whether or not derogatory information has been added.

Checking your credit also allows you to be alerted to information that may have negative, long-term effects on your credit history—such as excessive inquires and possible fraud.

By checking your credit report, you can discover possible inaccuracies in your credit history. Correcting inaccuracies ensures that your credit report is current and correct, which in turn helps speed the processing of your credit requests.

How does the credit reporting system work?

The principles underlying the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) are to ensure that this country's consumer reporting system functions fairly, accurately and efficiently without unwarranted intrusions into consumer privacy. These principles are even more important, in the face of technology and computers that can provide instant access to vast amounts of credit related information on consumers.

If you are denied credit or don’t receive what you consider a fair rate.

If you are denied credit, the creditor is required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act to give you a notice that tells you the specific reasons your application was rejected. You have the right to learn the reasons if you ask within 60 days of the denial. Indefinite and vague reasons for denial are illegal, so ask the creditor to be specific.

Acceptable reasons under the law include:

Your income was too low
You haven’t been employed for acceptable amount of time.
You were too near your credit limits on current accounts or have too many credit accounts.
Negative information about a past debt or current debt in default.

Unacceptable reasons include:

You didn’t meet the minimum standards
You didn’t receive enough points on our credit scoring system.

If you are denied credit, the FCRA requires the creditor to give you the name, address and phone number of the consumer reporting company that supplied the information your denial was based on. You should contact that company within 60 days of being turned down for credit obtain further information. Keep in mind the consumer reporting company can tell you what’s in your report, but only the creditor can tell you why your application was denied.

When ever you are denied credit, ask the creditor if a credit scoring system was used, ask what characteristics or factors were used in that system, and possible ways to improve your credit score.

How has the computer age affected the credit reporting process?

Where once a credit grantor might have offered credit based on the application of a handful of credit-related criteria, credit reporting today often applies dozens of interrelated criteria. Although the creditor who views your credit report may not see a paper copy of the credit file, the amount of information that he knows about you is almost limitless.

What are the laws governing credit bureaus?

Congress passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in 1972 to curb the abuses of the credit reporting bureaus. The FCRA is the governing federal law on the issue of credit reporting. The Fair Credit Reporting Act helps consumers promote and use their right to make changes to credit reports. It is a requirement, under section 1681e, that:

(b) Whenever a consumer reporting agency prepares a consumer report, it shall follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates.

Further, the FCRA provides a procedure in case of disputed accuracy, under section 1681 i whereby a consumer can demand that an investigation be made into the completeness or accuracy of any information in a credit report. If the status of the information cannot be determined, the data must be removed or corrected. The FCRA states:

(a) If the completeness or accuracy of any item of information contained in his file is disputed by a consumer, and such dispute is directly conveyed to the consumer reporting agency by the consumer, the consumer reporting agency shall within a reasonable period of time reinvestigate and record the current status of that information unless it has reasonable grounds to believe that the dispute by the consumer is frivolous or irrelevant. If after such reinvestigation such information is found to be inaccurate or can no longer be verified, the consumer reporting agency shall promptly delete such information. The presence of contradictory information in the consumer's file does not in and of itself constitute reasonable grounds for believing the  dispute is frivolous or irrelevant.

How do errors occur and how frequently?

Depending on the source of your statistics, estimates of credit bureaus errors run as high 90%. The Attorney General of New York State has estimated that credit bureau errors are in at least one-third of all reports, the United States Congress has estimated that errors exist in at least one half of all reports, a Consumers Union study found errors in 40% of credit files and the Charles Givens Organization conducted a study in which 90% of the credit reports reviewed contained errors.

You have the right under the FCRA to remedy all file information that is irrelevant,  not properly utilized, inaccurate, incomplete, misleading or does not reflect your creditworthiness, credit standing or credit capacity.

REMEMBER: THE PRACTICE OF CHALLENGING CREDIT DATA AND SECURING CREDITOR-BASED TRADE LINE DELETIONS ARE WHOLLY WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF THE LAW AND ARE THE RIGHTS OF ALL CONSUMERS.

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Table of Contents

Introduction • Credit Bureaus–What You Need To Know 
Your Credit Score–What It Is • Credit Reports–How To Read Them
Traditional Methods–Clean It Up • Quick Fixes – How You Can Get Faster Results
Monitoring Services–Are They Worth It • The Future–You Can Establish New Credit
Sample Disputer Letter • Other Resources & Sponsors • Supplement Reading • Summary