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All About Your Credit History
| There are three national credit reporting agencies (also known as credit bureaus): Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. One way they make money is by collecting credit information about consumers and selling it to creditors, employers, property owners, government agencies, and to anyone else who is legally entitled to it according to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
This law regulates credit-reporting agencies and establishes your rights regarding the information in your credit history and your dealings with credit bureaus.
| Your state may have its own credit reporting law which provides you with more protections and better remedies when your rights are violated. Contact your state attorney general's office to find out if your state has such a law.
Credit reporting agencies get their information about you from a variety of sources including your creditors and court records. If you have credit now or have had it in the past, it's likely that all three of the national credit bureaus are maintaining a credit history on you.
Your credit record provides information about:
| 1) You: Your name, Social Security number, current and past addresses, the name of your spouse, and the name of your present employer.
2) Public record information: Information about any bankruptcies you may have filed over the past 10 years, unpaid tax liens on your property, court judgments against you, etc.
3) Inquiries: The names of companies who have looked at the information in your credit record. For example, your current creditors may have reviewed the information to help them decide if they should increase your credit limit or change the interest rate on your account. Other creditors may have looked at it to decide whether or not to send you a pre-approved offer of credit.
| Tip: Always review your credit history information before applying for credit, a new job or promotion, a place to rent, a government license, security clearance or government benefit, and so on.
For more information contact our Financial Resources Group at 1-800-435-1945.
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