An annual credit report is the yearly summary of how the main consumer reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) judge your credit worthiness.
The report is compiled by these companies who take information provided by your creditors such as lending institutions and even landlords. The information is taken, collated and then itemised to provide an accurate picture of your credit habits - with specific importance placed upon your history of timeliness in paying your debts.
This report can really make or break you come time to do many things.
By looking at your report, companies can make the decision on whether to do business with you based on your credit risk profile.
If you have a bad credit history, then you are going to find it difficult to do many things.
Getting a loan will be either more expensive or even impossible with a bad credit history, depending on your needs.
Credit cards will also be either more expensive of more difficult to get with a bad credit history.
Even things like renting a new place to live can be made more difficult.
The key here is to know your credit history by applying for your free annual credit report and taking steps to maintain a good credit report or improve a bad one.
Luckily, if your annual credit report shows that you have a bad credit history, there are many things that can be done to improve it.
You will need to identify any inaccurate or incorrect items on your annual credit report and then take steps to challenge them.
This will usually involve writing directly to the relevant consumer reporting company and then provide a list of items that you want to dispute with a reason for your dispute. The credit reporting company is then obliged to investigate and make relevant changes if your challenge is found to be accurate.
You can usually increase your chance of a positive outcome by hiring a credit reporting company to act on your behalf.
Find out how to improve your annual credit report at Credit-Reporter.net
Source: www.articlealley.com