5 Things On Credit Report To Keep an Eye On When Buying a Home

Personal information, credit account history, credit inquiries, and public records are all included in your credit report. This data is provided by your lenders and creditors to the credit agencies. Much of this data is used to compute your FICO® Scores in order to future lenders about your financial stability.

Although each of the credit bureaus - Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion - structures and reports your data differently, all credit reports contain identical categories of information.

Identifying information, credit accounts, credit inquiries, and public records are the four categories.

Keep in mind that your credit report may include more than one of these items.

Late Payments

• Even a single late or missed payment can have a significant impact on your credit reports and scores. After 30 days, late payments generally do not appear on your credit reports. If you miss the payment due date by even one day, you may be charged enormous penalties, such as late fees and interest rates that can quickly add up over time.

If you are experiencing financial hardship as a result of a job loss or furlough, and are having difficulty paying your credit card bills on time, or if you just missed the due date by accident, then you may want to know when your late payments will show up on your credit reports, as well as any type of grace period.

Even just one late or missed payment can have a big influence on your credit ratings and scores. However, late payments are unlikely to show up on your credit reports for at least 30 days after the date you miss the payment, although you may still be charged late fees.

If you make a full late payment before the 30-day period has elapsed, lenders and creditors may not report it to the credit bureaus as a late payment. Keep in mind that if you aren't able to pay the rest of your bill, and only make a partial payment, it will be recorded as late.

Here's how the process usually works:

on the account closure date, your statement or bill is generated. Your payment due date, shown on your bill or statement, is then followed by a number of days (usually one) before late fees or interest starts accruing.

Typically, your due date is set at the 15th of every month,

The reporting date is the final day you can report your account data to the nationwide credit bureaus, usually the date when your account information is submitted to the various credit bureaus. (Remember that not all lenders and creditors submit their info to all three credit bureaus — some may just do it for two, one or none at all

In general, the reporting date is at least 30 days following the payment due date, allowing you to make up late payments before they appear on credit reports. Some lenders and creditors won't report late payments until they reach 60 days overdue.

Even if a late payment does not show up on credit reports right away, late charges can be levied almost immediately after the due date.

If your account is 30 days or more past due, but you are prepared to pay it before the next payment due date, your lender or creditor should report the account as current. However, any late payments that they have already reported will remain on your credit reports for seven years.

Personal information

• Personal information that may be used to identify, contact, or locate the user
• Your name, address, Social Security number, birthdate and employment information are used to identify you. Your PII is not used to calculate your FICO Scores. Updates to this data come from when you submit new credit applications with lenders.

When looking through personal information, keep the following items in mind:

Is your name correct? Is the document current with your current address? Check the accuracy of your Social Security Number closely to make sure the digits haven't been transposed. If any of this information is incorrect, dispute it with the credit agency(s) that has this information wrong on its report.

Credit Accounts

• Lenders keep records on each account you have with them. They report the sort of account (credit card, auto loan, mortgage), when you opened it, your credit limit or loan amount, the account balance and payment history, including whether or not payments are on time.

This data is included in the majority of your FICO Score calculation—so it's critical to maintain good credit. Take a look at how a FICO Score is calculated, according to this breakdown.

What to look for when checking credit accounts:

Accounts in good standing indicate that your payments have been on time and that you've upheld the terms of your agreement with the lender. Even though the report indicates you're in "good standing," double-check to ensure that you're aware of this account (verify account name and number), as well as the date it was opened, balance, payment status, and payment history.

Accounts in bad standing provide information on accounts for which payments have been missed. Check that all details are correct, from the account number and current balance to the outstanding amount and payment history, as with good-standing accounts. If anything doesn't seem right, contact the credit bureaus (if any) and/or creditors right away.

• Inquiries regarding your credit score
• When you take out a loan, you give your permission for the lender to request a copy of your credit report. Inquiries make up part of your credit report.

The inquiries tab lists everyone who has looked at your credit report within the previous two years. The document you see includes both "hard" and "soft" inquiries, such as when lenders request your credit report to send you a pre-approved credit offer by mail. Only the "hard" inquiries on your credit report are visible to lenders.

Soft inquiries have no impact on your FICO Scores, while numerous "hard" inquiries might suggest higher risk—and can drop your score. Find out more about how inquiries affect your score.

Credit Inquiries

That's a crucial step in verifying your rights. You want to make sure there's no funny business going on with your credit report, just as you would if you were signing up for a new bank account or credit card. Check to see who has inquired into your credit and whether it was only shared with you or with others as well. Your credit report will include the name of the creditor who made the inquiry, as well as their business type and the date of the inquiry. Check with your credit bureau(s) to see what sort of action you should take if one is required, especially if you see a strange business name or are unsure why a specific firm has investigated your credit.

• Public records and collections
• State and county courts, as well as credit reporting agencies, provide public record information, such as bankruptcies. Your credit report will also show any debt that is past due and has been sent to collection.

Even if a debt collection (collection accounts) shows on your credit report, it isn't the end of the world. While there are no short-term solutions to repairing your credit, there are several things you can do to help raise your FICO Scores.

Public Records

The filing date of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy is reported on your credit report for 10 years. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is removed from your credit report seven years after the filing date. If either of these two items appears on your report, keep it in mind.

Remember, you should constantly double-check the information on your credit report to make sure it's accurate so that your lenders get the most up-to-date FICO Scores when you apply for credit. If you discover an error on your credit report, you should notify the relevant credit bureau. Here you can also obtain information about Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion's contact details.

In conclusion, talk to your loan officer to get the best possible solution, in some cases, you don't need to remove any of the entries on your credit report or dispute anything. Sometimes writing a letter of explanation to the underwriter helps to take care of some issues and it will get you your dream home financed.