What You Need To Know About Your Credit Report - Part II
Despite my knowledge of the credit reporting industry and working with clients’ credit daily, I have never received a clear explanation for the discrepancies I find in how credit scores are calculated.
If you go to the website for each bureau and manage to maneuver through the multitude of solicitations, you will find some limited explanations about credit in general. For example, the following is Experian’s answer to the question what is a credit score?
When a lender requests you score, it is calculated by a computer at the lender’s location, by a third-party service provider such as a mortgage reporting agency, or my be applied at a consumer reporting agency. The score is one of many pieces of information the lender may use in evaluating your credit application. Source: Experian website, www.experian.com
Equifax offers a list
Who Can Look at Your Credit Report? Anyone with what is considered a permissible purpose can look at your report. These companies, groups, and individuals include:
• Potential lenders
• Landlords
• Insurance companies
• Employers and potential employers (usually only with your written consent)
• Companies you allow 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
While the information given is useful, it does not address many of the issues associated with credit that most consumers have. The Fair Credit Reporting Act was initially passed in the late 90s and then updated in 2003. However, this information, while available to the consumer, is not publicized or presented in a manner that the general consumer will seek out and understand.
What you need to know about your credit report - Part III to follow.