Government agencies. A government agency with a legitimate reason to pull your credit may do so. It may be looking for contact information; determining if you potentially have unclaimed income or assets when you apply for public assistance; or determining how much you can afford in child support and more.
While the general public can't see your credit report, some groups have legal access to that personal information. Those groups include lenders, creditors, landlords, employers, insurance companies, government agencies and utility providers.
The bottom line. Your credit report can't be obtained by just anyone. The FCRA lays out in what situations a credit reporting agency can provide others access to your report. Even those who want access to your report can only ask for it if they have a legally permissible reason to do so.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal statute that defines and limits who can receive credit-related information. The act lists legal reasons why someone's credit can be checked; therefore, it is illegal for an individual or organization to check someone's credit report for any other purpose.
You must give consent before a reporting agency can provide information to your employer or potential employer. There is no exception for spouses. “Everyone has their own credit report, and it's private to them,” says Rod Griffin, director of education at Experian, 1 of the 3 major credit bureaus.
When you request a copy of your credit report, you will see a list of anyone who has requested your credit report within the past year, including any employers or prospective employers who have requested your report within the past two years for employment purposes.
Equifax credit scores are provided to consumers for their own use to help them estimate their general credit position. Equifax credit scores are not used by lenders and creditors to assess consumers' creditworthiness.
You know your credit report is important, but the three nationwide consumer reporting companies—Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian—aren't the only companies that collect information on you. Other companies collect information and prepare consumer reports about you—and you have a right to see those reports.
Your credit report contains personal information, credit account history, credit inquiries and public records. This information is reported by your lenders and creditors to the credit bureaus. Much of it is used to calculate your FICO® Scores to inform future lenders about your creditworthiness.
Generally, Credit Karma is the overall best site in terms of getting free credit scores and free credit reports. It provides free weekly scores and reports from Transunion and Equifax that are available without having to provide your credit card first.
You can access someone else's credit report by directly contacting one of the credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian). Each of these bureaus technically gives their ratings independently, but all three of the scores should be quite similar for the same person.
The average person is not privy to your credit information. For the most part, your score and report remain confidential, and only select parties and companies can see it.
When you are applying for a mortgage to buy a home, lenders will typically look at all of your credit history reports from the three major credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
Although ranges vary depending on the credit scoring model, generally credit scores from 580 to 669 are considered fair; 670 to 739 are considered good; 740 to 799 are considered very good; and 800 and up are considered excellent.
Can Someone Steal Your Identity with Your Credit Report? Your credit report contains a lot of personal information, so it's a goldmine for identity thieves. With a copy of your report in hand, a potential fraudster might be able to see: Full name.
Hard inquiries typically require your written permission. These occur when you're applying for a credit card or personal loan, trying to rent an apartment and other situations where a business is attempting to assess your financial health for a specific purpose.
What is private credit data? Full private credit data provides granular financial information about active and closed credit accounts that consumers have been using. This includes information such as: Full CRA credit risk score. Consumer's indebtedness position.
Lenders may consider reports from one of the credit rating agencies such as Experian or Equifax to determine your creditworthiness.
Current or potential creditors — like credit card issuers, auto lenders and mortgage lenders — can pull your credit score and report to determine creditworthiness as well.
When you apply for credit, lenders will go directly to Experian to look at your data rather than looking at how it appears in your ClearScore account. Bear in mind that your credit report is only one factor in a lender's decision.
If you want to freeze your credit, you need to do it at each of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax (1-800-349-9960), TransUnion (1-888-909-8872) and Experian (1-888-397-3742). If you request a freeze, be sure to store the passwords you'll need to thaw your credit in a safe place.
The best way to find out if someone has opened an account in your name is to pull your own credit reports to check. Note that you'll need to pull your credit reports from all three bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — to check for fraud since each report may have different information and reporting.