Reporting to a Credit Agency
Credit agencies are companies that compile information about people who take out loans and other forms of credit. For a fee, these credit agencies make this information available to lenders and other businesses with an interest in a person's lending history. In order to acquire this information, credit agencies rely on information provided to them by creditors, as well as information culled from public records, all of which makes up a person's credit report, which determines his credit score.
Other People Are Reading
-
Credit Agencies
-
Credit agencies are private companies that make money by selling credit information about individuals. Many of the same creditors who purchase information from these agencies also supply these agencies with information. The three main credit reporting agencies -- TransUnion, Experian and Equifax -- all share information. This means that if one credit reporting agency acquires data about a borrower, it will share the information with the other two companies, and they will all add it to the individual's credit report.
Creditor Reporting
-
When a person takes out a loan from a business, this business will generally notify one or more credit reporting agencies about the loan. As the person pays back the loan, the credit reporting agency will continue to be apprised by the businesses about whether this loan is being paid back on time. While not legally required to do so, most businesses attempt to furnish agencies with accurate information.
-
Public Records
-
Credit reporting agencies also cull information from public records. Only a small portion of public records will have bearing on a person's credit rating. For example, if a person has filed for bankruptcy, this bankruptcy will be noted on the person's credit rating. A person is not required to report information himself to a credit reporting agency. Because the agency gathers the information itself, there may be a time lag between when the record is filed and when it is reflected on a person's credit report.
Credit Reports
-
A credit report contains all the information that is reported to a credit agency and that it chooses to use to determine the person's credit score. Only some information is legally allowed to be included in a person's credit rating, while some information can only be included for a limited period of time. For example, negative information about an individual -- for example, a record of a delinquent loan -- can only stay on a report for a maximum of seven years.
-
