Who Is Responsible For Checking My Credit Report? |
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Guess who has the keys to your credit report? You already know that banks, credit card companies, mortgage lenders, and car financiers size you up by your credit record. But they aren't the only ones who check your credit report. Increasingly, more and more people checking your credit report in regard to smaller and smaller amounts of money. The scope of permissible purposes and legitimate business needs (legal-speak for "yeah, you can have access to this sensitive data") is growing. Absent further legislation to more specifically restrict the uses of your credit report, anyone who can legally make a case for needing it can check your credit report. More and more companies are finding a permissible purpose to check your credit report. Employers can check your credit report and do an investigative report to see whether you have a criminal record or other transgressions that might speak ill of your character. If you have significant responsibilities when it comes to handling corporate funds, an employer can deny you employment based on your credit history. They could be checking to see if your debt load is too high for the salary they are offering. For sensitive positions in security, banking or government jobs, they may be trying to see how trustworthy and reliable you may be. Landlords and potential landlords are also allowed to check your credit report and can deny rental if they aren't comfortable with you as a credit risk. It's true that lenders do pay a lot of attention to your credit report and/or credit score when loaning you big bucks. Insurers also check your credit report as a determining factor on your risk as a driver and homeowner, which has a direct effect on your insurance premiums. Over 90% of insurance companies and an increasing number of home insurers use your credit information to help formulate how likely you are to file a claim on an insurance policy, and more than half of these insurers use this information to determine your insurance premiums. Utilities, cable companies, and ISPs are getting in on the action, too. Their rationale is that they front you the first month of service and are therefore extending you credit. This allows them to check your credit report and score to see whether you'll be a good risk and possibly deny you service or charge you premiums if your credit scores are too low. Most experienced people who have worked in the banking credit and collections industry know how important a good credit rating can be. They also know from experience that companies often check credit report of their consumers to pull their credit histories. The good news is that you can check the checkers. Your credit file contains a list of anyone that has made an inquiry into your credit record. For a complete list of prying eyes, check your credit report from the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) since each business may pony up for a peek into only one or two of your files. Do your own sleuthing and see who has been inquiring about your credit history. Order you merged credit report from the three big credit bureaus and check your credit report. Your report includes a list of companies that requested your credit report in the past twelve months. These are called inquiries. Excessive inquiries relay to a potential lender that you are very credit active. Excessive inquiries are a red flag for companies when evaluating risk, possibly increasing the rate. These inquiries often remain for 2 years. Be aware that too many inquiries could adversely tell a potential creditor you are desperate. Even unsolicited credit offers through the mail appear in this area and they too can affect your loan procurement. You should check your credit report consistently to find out who is checking your file and how many inquiries you have in your credit report as it can adversely affect you to get credit you need. So you should check your credit report since so much depends on it. You should check your credit report annually, and probably every 6 months because one unsuspecting day, your loan will be turned down or your creditors will start demanding payment in full for no apparent reason. And you'll be left standing there wondering what happened! |
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