Building a Better Credit Report

Did you know that your credit report may not reflect all of your current or past credit accounts?

Although most national merchants and credit card accounts will be included in your file, not all creditors supply information to consumer reporting companies. Some smaller retailers, local merchants, credit unions, travel, entertainment, Buy Here Pay Here car lots and gas card companies typically don’t report to credit agencies.

If you’ve been told that you were denied credit because of an “insufficient credit file” or “no credit file” and you have accounts with creditors that don’t appear in your credit file, ask the consumer reporting companies to add this information to future reports.

While they are not required to do so, many consumer reporting companies will add verifiable accounts for a fee. However, you need to know that if these creditors do not report to the consumer reporting company on a regular basis, the added items will not be updated in your file.

When negative information in your report is accurate, only time can assure its removal. A consumer reporting company can report most accurate negative information for 7 years and bankruptcy information for 10 years. Information about an unpaid judgment can be reported for 7 years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer.

There is no time limit on reporting the following type of information:

• criminal convictions
• information reported in response to your application for a job that pays more than $75,000 a year, and
• information reported because you’ve applied for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance.