YOUR FICO CREDIT REPORT
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Your FICO credit report is a record of your credit related activities. It shows accounts opened in your name or that list you as an authorized user. Details include the date the accounts were opened, the credit limit or loan amount, payment terms, balance, and payment history. Closed and inactive accounts can stay on your credit report for 7 to 11 years from the date of last activity although there is no requirement that they do so. |
Your credit report will also show inquiries from prospective lenders, landlords, insurers and others. Inquiries remain on your
credit report for up to two years.
Information about you from public records, including liens, judgments, bankruptcies, and overdue child support can remain on your credit report for up to seven years.
If you file for personal bankruptcy, that fact
remains on your credit report for 10 years.
YOUR FICO CREDIT RATING
Your FICO credit rating is drawn from your credit report, which outlines your borrowing, charging, and repayment
activities. A poor credit score limits your financial opportunities.
Since your credit report influences whether you are able to buy a home or
qualify for certain jobs. it is extremely important
to protect your credit rating by making loan and bill payments on time and by not taking on more debt than
you can handle.
That's all true so far as it goes but a credit rating is really only a statistical compilation of the data currently available to the credit bureau. The mathematical formulae are secret but weigh factors like payment history, amount owed, number of accounts, and number of inquiries to calculate a credit score.
Your credit score isn't about "you." It's the statistical bin the credit bureau puts "you" in. It's the same as saying that Credit Score "xxx" has "yy" probability of making a timely payment over the next two or three years.
Credit bureaus can provide information only to the following requestors: (1) creditors who are considering
granting or have granted you credit; (2) employers considering you for employment, promotion, reassignment,
or retention; (3) insurers considering you for an insurance policy or reviewing an existing policy; (4) government
agencies reviewing your financial status or government benefits; and (5) anyone else with a legitimate
business need for the information, such as a potential landlord.
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