The Major Credit Agencies

The Major Credit Agencies

A big factor in your life, whether you realize it or not, is your credit history and your credit score.

Who keeps track of your credit history, well the three major credit agencies of course.

You may be one of those who have never had problems with your finances and your credit may be great so you don't worry about such things, however millions upon millons of people do and find themselves unable to buy a house, a car, get a loan or credit cards.

With the help of the three major credit agencies, banks and other money lenders, even your local appliance stores, make decisions on your ability to repay credit by studying your credit score.

A poor result on your credit report may mean that many banks may be unwilling to take the risk involved in lending you money, and those that do may only offer credit with a high interest rate to offset their risk.

Therefore, it is very important that you know exactly what kind of shape your finances are in.

Each of the three major credit agencies enable you to purchase a copy of your credit report to find out exactly what the banks think of you every time you apply for credit.

You can easily find details of the credit agencies who can sell you a copy of your report by simply running a web search for the term ‘credit agencies’.

In fact you will find many services that offer 'free'report', however you will find that they are very difficult to read and understand.

You’ll probably be led to one of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Transunion and Experian, who are the major credit agencies and they keep track of your fincial history and play a big part in your life by sending that information to banks.

There are others, but even having been involved in real estate and having worked as a lender for 6 years, I have never seen anything but Equifax, Transunion and Experian

By purchasing a copy of your credit report regularly you can keep aware of any changes in your credit history and score.

If, for whatever reason, it worsens then you can take measures to improve it, BEFORE you make any major purchases like real estate or a car, by making sure that you pay your bills on time, in full and contacting the merchants you buy from or even the credit agencies if you see problems on the report.

With those measures your credit score will improve and with the help of the credit agencies, you can be instantly aware of any potential problems with gaining good credit.