Key Things You Must Know About An Equifax Credit Report

An Equifax credit report may be the one of the most important statements in your possession. Employers, landlords, and money loaners rely on a person’s background credit as the primary, and sometimes only, source of information that determines the ability to borrow money and own a home. While everyone is entitled to a free annual credit report under federal law, understanding your credit report once each year may not be sufficient in maintaining the accuracy of your credit history. How much money you can borrow, the level of interest rates that will attach to this money, and a number of other personal financial statistics are all affected by a credit report. With an Equifax credit report, this information is available whenever you need it.

Your Equifax credit report should be of great interest to you since the contents can have such a profound influence on your ability to make certain purchases. Therefore, it is important to understand what you are going to see on your report and what it means. The contents of your Equifax credit report can basically be broken down into five parts: your personal information, inquiries, your credit history, public record information, and your overall credit score.

An Equifax credit report costs approximately 10 dollars - a small fee for self-awareness of financial status. There are two other major credit reporting services in the country: Experian and Trans Union. All three of these companies perform the same job; however, your credit report with each of these bureaus may vary. Because Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union gather information and statistics from different sources, many people request credit report’s from each of the services. After requesting your Equifax credit report, examine the numbers closely. If there is any discrepancy, it is a good idea to request credit reports from all of the services to make sure that your credit information is accurate.

Recently Equifax introduced a 3-1 Monitoring System. For $12.95 a month, consumers will receive monitoring of their credit report for all three major credit agencies of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion; automated and customized alert notification of changes to any of these three credit agency reports; unlimited access to their Equifax Credit Report; $20,000 Identity Theft Insurance policy with no deductible although certain limitations and exclusions apply and a customer service center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Third on your Equifax credit report is your credit history and public records. Your history will have a detailed list of your credit debts. It will include how you have done in terms of paying, all late payments, and information about how the account has been paid to date. You records will include bankruptcies, liens, and over due child support type information. Any public records are negative and will lower your overall score. They usually will stay on your Equifax credit report for six to ten years. Last you will find your credit score.

Some consumers may feel that the price of $12.95 a month ($155.40/year) is not a good value for the money and services offered. Consumers should take into consideration that one free three agency credit report is available to them each year, however additional reports may cost approximately $10.00 each. The Equifax service does offer some advantages such as customization, wireless alerts, identity theft insurance and convenience.