The new laws have made it mandatory for institutions involved in credit report management to show the information compiled by them to the citizens. Credit reports are basically a complete database of information on the financial history of an individual.

Earlier this was not the rule and hence made it very difficult for people to know when their credit rating was taking a dip. Their loan application used to be rejected and they would be denied any sort of financial assistance by various banks. The reasons stated for such actions were not made clear to them.

Obtaining a copy of their credit report is not such an easy task though. One has to provide the companies with all their personal details involving contact details, occupation history, residential address, a detailed account of all their bank accounts and other assets etc. and send a number of applications to the agencies involved in the compilation of such reports. The agencies may take a few weeks or even some months to reply in some cases.

Also they have to provide these agencies with a relevant reason for which they require a copy of their credit record. It is easy when they state genuine reasons like rejection of loan application by banks or inability to attain national cash grants. But reasons other than these do not suffice.

The best three organizations involved in this work are ‘Equifax’, ‘Experian’ and ‘Trans Union’. For attaining the report of oneself, one only needs to send an application stating the need for obtaining the credit report.

Because of the fact that all the agencies take into account different aspects of an individual, there is a possibility that one may have different credit ratings from different companies. Hence, one should ask and apply for a copy of their credit report from all the three above mentioned companies.

There are other agencies which operate online too and can provide people with the same information as the much acclaimed ‘Big Three’. There are certain advantages of obtaining their reports online. One of the biggest advantages is that they do not have to apply to separate companies and can easily obtain the information required by them in a few hours.

Online credit reports provide much more information as compared to the normal credit rating agencies. They mention everything ranging from the number of accounts that the person has or may have had in the past, loans applied for in the past, dues that need to be cleared out and a number of other details.

Credit scores and reports can affect the financial situation of an individual in a number of ways, especially in the recent times of a global economic meltdown. If a person has by chance a negative credit rating, he will find it difficult to apply for loans as these points are used by various banks as a criterion for awarding loans to different individuals.

People can do a lot of things in order to improve their credit ratings as follows:

• Firstly, one needs to clear off all his dues on time. By paying all his bills like electricity bill, water bill etc., and one has a greater chance of maintaining a good credit score.
• Secondly, people can start using ‘Secure’ credit cards. They are different from the regular credit cards handed out by various agencies and help in maintaining a positive score on the credit report. The main feature of such cards is that the bank issuing them has access to a cash deposit of the individual in concern and can deduct money from that deposit in case one is unable to pay the used amount on the credit card.

There have been reports of recent scams being pulled up by a number of credit rating agencies. They dupe people into believing that they can provide them with a copy of their credit report within a stipulated period of time. People are asked to pay a certain sum of money, usually around $30 to $40. However, these companies are never able to come up with the credit reports and the money shelled out by the applicants is returned back minus a certain sum which the companies claim to keep back as ‘processing fee’.

The truth is that the credit report agencies which are involved in preparing the credit reports of different individuals never indulge in sharing the information in their database at any cost. It is against their ethics. But since they have to act in accordance to the new law passed, they have to show the reports they prepare at least once to the original applicant only and no one else.

Further, nobody has to pay any sort of money for looking at their own credit reports. The processing is done free of cost.

‘Credit Report’ agencies are those which are involved in attaining and compiling the financial information of the citizen’s of America. Among all of the agencies that have been employed to carry on this work, there are three which are considered to be the best in this field. They are – ‘Experian’, ‘Equifax’ and ‘Trans Union’.

These agencies help in maintaining a record of all the information regarding the financial status of an individual. Be it loans or expenditures, these agencies have got all the information which one may require. When a person applies for a loan then the bank can contact such agencies and attain the relevant information regarding that person’s credit history from such agencies.

These agencies work on a highly confidential basis and the information that they collect is classified as top secret. They do not give out any sort of information easily. Only when the need is real that they would engage in any sort of communication with the party concerned with seeking such information. The information in their database generally consists of the persons contact details, bank account numbers, loan history, assets etc.

Also, they do not share any sort of resources with other agencies employed in performing the similar kind of work. This implies that a person can have a different kind of credit rating according to different agencies.