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Resource Center
 What’s in your credit report?
Although each credit reporting agency formats and reports this information differently, all credit reports contain basically the same categories of information. Your social security numbers, date of birth and employment information are used to identify you. These factors are not used in credit scoring. Updates to this information come from information you supply to lenders.
Identifying Information
Your names, address, Social Security number, date of birth and employment information are used to identify you. These factors are not used in credit scoring. Updates to this information come from information you supply to lenders.
Trade Lines
These are your credit accounts. Lenders report on each account you have established with them. They report the type of account (bankcard, auto loan, mortgage, etc), the date you opened the account, your credit limit or loan amount, the account balance and your payment history.
Credit Inquiries
When you apply for a loan, you authorize your lender to ask for a copy of your credit report. This is how inquiries appear on your credit report. The inquiries section contains a list of everyone who accessed your credit report within the last two years. The report you see lists both "voluntary" inquiries, spurred by your own requests for credit, and "involuntary" inquires, such as when lenders order your report so as to make you a pre-approved credit offer in the mail.
Public Record and Collection Items
Credit reporting agencies also collect public record information from state and county courts, and information on overdue debt from collection agencies. Public record information includes bankruptcies, foreclosures, suits, wage attachments, liens and judgments.
 What is a credit inquiry?
A credit inquiry is an item on a credit report that shows a business with a "permissible purpose" (as defined under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act) has previously requested a copy of the report. Not all credit inquiries count toward your FICO® score. When you check your credit report, you may notice that a number of credit inquiries have been made, sometimes from businesses that you don’t know. But the only inquiries that count toward your FICO score are the ones that result from your applications for new credit.
Inquiries that count toward your FICO score
There is only one type of credit inquiry that counts toward your FICO score. When you apply for a mortgage, auto loan or other credit, you authorize the lender to request a copy of your credit report. These types of inquiries, prompted by your own actions, appear on your credit report and are included in your FICO score.
Inquiries that don’t count toward your FICO score
Your own credit report requests, credit checks made by businesses to offer you goods or services, or inquiries made by businesses with whom you already have a credit account do not count toward your FICO score. Credit checks by prospective employers also do not count. These types of inquiries may appear on your credit report, but they are not included in your FICO score.
What's in your FICO score?
 FICO Scores are calculated from a lot of different credit data in your credit report. This data can be grouped into five categories as outlined below. The percentages in the chart reflect how important each of the categories is in determining your FICO score. These percentages are based on the importance of the five categories for the general population. For particular groups - for example, people who have not been using credit long - the importance of these categories may be somewhat different.
Payment History
- Account payment information on specific types of accounts (credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, finance company accounts, mortgage, etc.)
- Presence of adverse public records (bankruptcy, judgments, suits, liens, wage attachments, etc.), collection items, and/or delinquency (past due items)
- Severity of delinquency (how long past due)
- Amount past due on delinquent accounts or collection items
- Time since (recency of) past due items (delinquency), adverse public records (if any), or collection items (if any)
- Number of past due items on file
- Number of accounts paid as agreed
Amounts Owed
- Amount owing on accounts
- Amount owing on specific types of accounts
- Lack of a specific type of balance, in some cases
- Number of accounts with balances
- Proportion of credit lines used (proportion of balances to total credit limits on certain types of revolving accounts)
- Proportion of installment loan amounts still owing (proportion of balance to original loan amount on certain types of installment loans)
 Length of Credit History
- Time since accounts opened
- Time since accounts opened, by specific type of account
- Time since account activity
New Credit
- Number of recently opened accounts, and proportion of accounts that are recently opened, by type of account
- Number of recent credit inquiries
- Time since recent account opening(s), by type of account
- Time since credit inquiry(s)
- Re-establishment of positive credit history following past payment problems
Types of Credit Used
- Number of (presence, prevalence, and recent information on) various types of accounts (credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, mortgage, consumer finance accounts, etc.)
How much will bad credit cost me?
Bad credit is expensive. From credit cards to mortgage loans and everything in-between, people with poor credit pay much more for goods and services purchased over time than those with excellent credit. On the bright side, even a modest increase to your credit score can save you thousands of dollars of interest on your home mortgage, car loan, or credit card debt.
The following are just a few illustrations of how much bad credit may be costing you!
Mortgage Loans
Because mortgage loans involve large sums of money, even small variations in interest rates can make a big difference. The chart below shows the difference in monthly payments as your credit decreases from a high credit scores to a low credit score. As you can see, in this case the total cost of poor credit can cost you up to $100 per month more.
Auto Loans and Vehicle Financing
Even in smaller loans, such as a car loan, the costs can be dramatic. The following table shows the difference good or bad credit can make even in a loan for $25,000 over three years.
Credit Cards
Right off the bat, with excellent credit you can get a credit card approved almost instantaneously with any major credit card company with no annual fee and an attractive interest rate, often under 10%. Someone with poor credit will struggle for credit card approval, and if he or she gets approval at all, it is likely to be for a card with an interest rate of at least 19% and a hefty annual fee.
What this translates to in dollars and cents will differ from person to person, depending on the balance that they carry on their card. However, at a glance, it is easy to see that if you carry any balance at all on your card, the cost of carrying a balance will be nearly twice as much with poor credit as excellent credit.
Employment and Housing
Poor credit can even affect your employment and housing situations. Although federal and state laws prohibit employers and landlords from discriminating based on previous bankruptcy, employers and landlords often turn away applicants with poor credit ratings. Landlords have typically rejected any applicants who they feel are likely to be delinquent on their rent, but sometimes even employers will screen out prospective employees based on poor credit history, particularly if they are applying for jobs dealing with cash, valuables, or finances.
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Professional Credit Consultant |
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Professional Credit Processor |
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Unlimited Disputes to Bureaus |
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Monthly Updates |
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Everything in “Option A” |
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Unlimited Validation Letters |
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Unlimited Goodwill Letters |
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Recommendation Letter |
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