What is a Credit Report?

For most people having good credit is a necessary part of their financial well being. Your credit history has a large impact on the ability to receive a mortgage, car loan and credit cards. Most of time your credit rating is based and formulated using information that is found on your credit report. If you are new to having credit or finally realized how important credit can be, here is some information on what a credit report is and its importance in the credit process.

A credit report is a document that is used to summarize your financial reliability. Usually credit reports compile information that includes current loans and credit cards you have, your payment history, your outstanding debt and other personal information such as your current and previous address, full name, aliases, and companies or lenders that recently requested your credit report.

Credit reports are a very useful tool for companies and lenders to determine if a person they are either loaning money to or can be providing a job or an apartment for is reliable and stable with their finances. For instance, if you would like to apply for a credit card, when filling out the application, you sign a waiver giving the credit card permission to pull your credit report and analyze it. From this point the credit card company will look at your credit report to see if you have lots of other credit cards, the debt that you owe on those credit cards and if in the past were you late paying the monthly bills for the credit cards.

Credit reports are instruments used by lenders and other entities to protect themselves against risk. While a credit report with lots of negative info can be bad for the person that is applying for a loan or apartment, credit reports are in most cases very helpful for consumers that keep up on their payments and are financially responsible. These consumers are able to acquire import loans such as mortgages and business loans that can help them reach their life goals. Because credit reports are so important to the process of acquiring loans and a big factor in renting an apartment or applying for a job, it is extremely important that consumers know as much as possible on how credit reports are used, how they are scored and strategies on how your credit report can show you as being financially responsible.