What’s a Credit Report all About?
A Credit Report maintains information about you and, more specifically, your credit history. This information is collected on an continual basis from many sources that have lent you credit.
Service providers such as: Lenders, employers, and landlords buy your information which is called a credit report. This information helps them decide whether to approve of deny your application for a loan, credit card, job, or housing. Or maybe to offer you a product or service at a particular rate.
Your credit file will change constantly as the state of your borrowing capacity changes. For this reason it’s important that you review your information regularly and keep up to date so to check its accuracy.

What Kind Information is Included in My Credit Report?
The kind of information includes your personal information. Information which is compiled from the credit applications you have completed and lodged. This information typically includes details such as your name, addresses: current and recent, your Social Security Number, your date of birth, and maybe current and previous employers.

Your Credit History
The majority of your credit report includes details about your credit accounts opened in your name or maybe that list you as an authorized credit user (such as your spouse’s credit card). Your account details supplied by creditors which you got an account include: date that the account was opened, your credit limit -or loan amount, payment terms, account balance, and maybe a history showing whether you’ve paid for the account on time. Accounts which are closed or not active accounts - depending on the manner to which they were paid - actually stay on your report for up to seven or eleven years - from the date of last activity.

Credit Check Inquiries.
The credit reporting agencies record an inquiry whenever your credit report is shown to another party, such as a lender, service provider, landlord, or insurer. Not that Inquiries remain on your credit report for up to two years.

Any person with permission can view your report. These companies, groups, and individuals include the following:

• Any Potential lenders
• Your Landlords
• Insurance companies
• Employers and potential employers (only with your written consent)
• Companies that you have given permission to monitor your account for signs of identity theft
• Some groups considering your application for a government license or benefit
• A state or local child support enforcement agency
• Any government agency (although they may be allowed to view only certain portions)
• Someone who uses your credit report to provide a product or service you have requested
• Someone that has your written authorization to obtain your credit report

The best advice is to manage credit responsibly over time and get a top Credit Report

Pay your bills on time.
Late payments have a major negative impact on your Credit Rating score. Late payments are now worse to the score than are late payments that were reported in the past.
Maybe you have missed payments. Correct it fast! You must get back to your current account balance and stay current.
Payment Regularity; The longer you pay your bills on time - the better your Credit Report will be.
Note that by paying off a collection account will not actually remove it from the Credit Report.
A negative record will stay on the your Credit Report for seven long years.
If you are having a hard time making ends meet, you should contact their creditors or see a legitimate credit counselor. This won’t improve the score immediately, but if you can begin to manage your credit and pay on time, your score will get better over time. A recent change at Fair Isaac no longer penalizes a score for the consumer entering Consumer Credit Counseling.
Check your Credit Report regularly, at least annually is recommended, for errors.
Check your Credit Report for erroneous late payments and if reported have them corrected with the reporting bureau. Check for old, especially derogatory, information that is old enough to be purged from the report. Ensure that accounts, again especially derogatory accounts, are reported with the actual true date of last activity. This would include accounts that were discharged through a bankruptcy. The date of last activity of bankruptcy accounts should match the date that the bankruptcy was discharged.

For questions concerning credit reports, below is the contact information for the three major credit repositories:
Equifax Information Service
Attn: Disputes
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA. 30374
(800) 685-1111 or (800) 685-5000
www.equifax.com
Experian (formerly TRW)
Attn: NCAC
P.O. Box 9556
Allen, TX. 75002
(888) 397-3742
www.Experian.com
TransUnion Corporation
Attn: Disputes
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022
(800) 888-4213
www.transunion.com
Consumers can also visit the following websites for more information.
www.myfico.com
www.refinancing.safewebshop.com/faircreditreporting

Maintaining a good Credit Rating is now more essential than ever before. Therefore the constant maintenance and care of your accurate Credit History is now absolutely necessary. You should check your Credit Reports frequently, not only to combat your identity theft, but also make sure the three national credit bureaus - www.equifax.com and www.Experian.com and www.transunion.com - are reporting their credit data accurately. Check errors like the following; inaccurately reported credit information, especially inaccurate late payments, or past due accounts which can drag down your credit score.

These hurt your loan eligibility and damage your chances at receiving a lower loan rate. Inaccurate information does not have to stay on your credit report. These are some of the steps you as a consumer can take to dispute inaccurate information.
The three major national Credit Bureaus offer online dispute systems on their actual web sites.

According to the websites of two of the three main bureaus; in order to submit a dispute online - you must first purchase your credit report from that actual specific bureau and then provide an order confirmation number as proof of purchase. Note, that may not be the best way to file a actual dispute, and it is not necessarily the method suggested by the Federal Trade commission (FTC). The best way to file a dispute is to dispute it by mail.