Besides your personal information like your address your employer or your name, your credit report contains four distinct categories of listings that appear on your credit report and compose your credit score.
Collection Accounts
If you were ever referred to a collection agency because of a bad check, delinquency, or other unpaid bill, then this action will show up on your credit report. Even if you have paid the amount in dispute, being referred to a collection agency is considered very bad by most all credit grantors. This tells the new creditor that sometimes they will need to sell their debt to a collection agency just to get paid. As you can imagine it can be very damaging for the person. Try to keep all of your accounts away from collection agencies, if possible.
Court Records
If you were ever taken to court for an unsatisfied debt, then this will be listed on your credit report. If you have ever claimed bankruptcy , this will be listed on your credit report. If you have ever had a lien apply to your house or other property, this is listed on your credit report. If you were ever divorced, this is listed on your credit report . If you have ever been sued by another party, or sued someone, this is listed on your credit report. Almost every single Court action, except speeding tickets, are listed on your credit reports.
Inquiries
Each time a potential credit grinch peaks that your credit report, a credit report inquiry appears on the report. For example, let’s say you are shopping for a new car. You decide to visit five different car lots and get the best price. When you arrive at each of the car lots, each company wants you to fill out their application for credit. Often, car lots will make you fill out an application for credit in-advance to talk about any pricing or deals. At the end of your car shopping journey, you will see five or more inquiries on your credit report. A single car shopping day makes your credit report looked like you are credit shopping. While this type of profiling is totally not a fair representation of who you are, that’s the way it is. If you were to go car shopping a second weekend and perhaps even a third weekend, your credit report would show fifteen to twenty different credit report inquiries and you would look absolutely awful to any credit agency.
Credit report inquiries are one of the easiest ways to get yourself denied credit. Even a simple car shopping experience can transform your good looking credit report into a desperate looking account holder. Try and keep your credit report inquiries to a minimum. Don’t fill out credit report applications unless you are actually going to buy the car through that company and through the credit agency. Don’t rely on the car lot to simply not run your credit report. Oftentimes, car lots will get your information and submit it without fully informing you that they are going to submit your credit claiming that they didn’t understand you didn’t want it ran. This is an attempt by the car lot to get your credit score so they can determine if you are a potential sale.
Merchant Trade Lines
These include all regular credit lines such as department store cards, auto loans, mortgages, and credit cards. If there is any history of late payment, or if the trade line was included in bankruptcy, charged off, or put into repossession, the listing will be considered negative by all credit grantors.
Merchant trade lines include all regular credit lines and extensions such as auto loans, mortgages, credit cards, department store cards, gas cards, and revolving lines of credit with specific companies. If your credit report shows a history of late payments, or if you included one of those companies into bankruptcy, chargeoff, or was put into a repossessions status, this credit report listing will be viewed as negative by nearly all credit grantors.