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Experian is one of the three major
credit bureaus in the United States. As a
credit bureau,
Experian is responsible for providing those in
the business of lending credit or money with the
information these businesses need to determine
whether or not they should extend funding or
credit to those who apply.
These businesses make their determinations after
analyzing your ability to manage the credit that
has already been issued to you. All of this
information is available on an Experian
credit report. A pattern of timely repayments
is a good indication that you manage your credit
wisely, but it is not the only issue that is
analyzed.
Having too many open accounts can be a red flag,
especially if those accounts have high available
credit limits. Such a situation means that at
any time, you could go on a spending spree and
charge up a considerable amount. If that happened,
your ability to repay that debt would be
questionable.
Maintaining this important financial information
is primarily what Experian and the other two
credit bureaus do. With this information readily
available, it takes just a few moments for lenders
to determine your creditworthiness. The lender
might decide to deny you the credit you requested,
or the lender might grant approval for credit but
with a steep rate of interest. If you’re a good
credit risk, your request likely will be approved
and you’ll probably be offered a favorable
interest rate since lenders will want your
business.
That’s why you should know exactly what your
credit report contains. Only you can ensure that
the information is 100% accurate. Given the volume
of data that is fed into the Experian databases
each day, discrepancies are quite common. New
legislation allows consumers to receive a full
copy of their
credit reports from each of the 3 major credit
reporting bureaus once every year for free. Be
sure to take advantage of this!
When you receive your credit reports from Experian
and the others, take time to carefully scrutinize
each line item. Should you identify an entry that
you feel is incorrect, each credit bureau offers a
dispute resolution procedure. Follow the steps
precisely and be sure to follow through. You won’t
always be successful in clearing up a discrepancy,
but trying is definitely worth your time and
effort. Clearing up just a few discrepancies could
drastically change the way your behavior is
interpreted by lenders.
To get a copy of your free Experian credit report,
visit
www.annualcreditreport.com.
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