Credit History
Credit history is a person’s or company’s track record for borrowing and repaying money. A person’s credit history helps to determine their credit score. Business people – from lenders to landlords to potential employers – use your credit history and score to determine whether to do business with you. Your credit history helps predict whether you’ll pay them on time, or if you might be a high risk.
What’s in your credit history?
Your credit history includes:
- Details about loans or credit lines in your name.
- Information supplied by creditors, such as:
- Date the account was opened
- Amount of loan/credit limit and balance owed
- Payment terms and payment history
- Closed or inactive accounts
What’s not included in your credit history?
- Bankruptcies over 10 years old
- Charge-offs or debts placed for collection over 7 years old
- Checking or savings account information
- Your sex, ethnic group, religious or political preferences
- Medical history
- Criminal records
Who can access your credit history?
Usually, accessing your credit history requires your signed consent. Anyone with a good business reason to learn about your financial responsibility and stability can buy your credit history. These include:
- Lenders
- Landlords
- Employers
- Insurance companies
- Companies monitoring to protect you from identity theft
- Child support enforcement agencies
Learn about your credit history
Learning about your credit history is easy, and free. U.S. residents are entitled to one free credit report every 12 months from each of the three U.S. credit reporting companies (credit bureaus). There are several ways of accessing your free report:
- By visiting annualcreditreport.com
- By calling 1-877-322-8228; or
- By completing the form in the Annual Credit Request brochure and mailing it to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
