What is a Credit Report ?
A credit report is a personal file focussing in your financial status, and it relates to any loans or other forms of credit that you may have applied for. As well as holding your personal details, your credit file also details how diligently you pay your bills and loans, what sort of loans and other credit you have or have had in the past, whether you have been refused credit at any point, whether you have ever had any court action taken against you regarding your financial obligations, whether you have ever filed for bankruptcy, any late or missed repayments on commitments, and a range of other finance related data.
Each time you make a repayment it is logged against your report, and so if the payments go in late or are missed altogether a black mark goes on to your report. It is the accumulation of such black marks that can result in your credit rating plummeting, and this in turn can result in a range of problems that can affect many areas of your life.
All creditors consult your credit report before offering you any form of credit, and their decision to lend you money is based around the state of your credit rating. Many lenders will refuse credit to those with a poor credit rating; others will still lend money but at a higher rate of interest, which can become financially crippling. So, applying for anything from a credit card to a mortgage could become as frustrating and draining as it can get, simply because of your credit report.
This is why it is so important to try and keep your credit report as clean as possible. Having no credit can be as bad as having bad credit, so you should not be discouraged from actually applying for finance – however, you should be discouraged from missing payments or making late repayments, as this is what can get your credit report and rating in to a real mess. This is also why it is advisable for anyone that is struggling with their debts to initiate early action and find a suitable solution before the threat of missed payments and defaults becomes a reality.
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