Credit Reports Are Essential For Financial Planning

Everything you have ever done financially adds up.  Everything you have ever done financially ends on on your Credit Reports.  There are three main reporting credit reporting companies, and these companies keep track of every single financial situation you have ever been in.

The Credit Reports by these agencies include personal information about you such as your name, address, phone number, social security number and place of employment.  There can also be information on there like your maiden name if you are a woman, or perhaps any aliases you may have ever used.

Credit Reports also contain different types of financial information.  There is a section about all of the creditors you have paid off or are in good standing with.  These are the creditors for loans and credit cards you are either paying on time or have paid off in a timely fashion.

These Credit Reports also have a section of items that are considered derogatory items on your report.  These would be items that you either have not paid or are late on.  Maybe you pay them but pay them late here and there.  These items would also fall into the derogatory section.

Then there is a section of public records on the Credit Reports. These items are the items you never paid, and perhaps they are now considered bad debts or have been written off by the company as a loss.  After that happens, there can be a judgment filed against you in the courts that orders you to pay the money.  This judgment through the court shows up on your Credit Reports.

If you file bankruptcy, that shows up on your Credit Reports as well.  It will be marked on your Credit Reports as a Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Any payments due will be recorded.

Judgments and bankruptcies will remain on your Credit Reports for 10 years.  Everything else remains there for seven years.  It is important to remember this because once you have some derogatory item on your report, it is almost impossible to get it removed before the seven years is up, and if it is a 10 year item, it will remain there regardless of what you do.

What you want are items reported that you have paid off.  This is the best indicator that you pay your debts on time, and pay them back.  Creditors who look at your Credit Reports want to see more of these than anything else.