Trans Union Free Credit Report

A Trans Union free credit report deals with four types of information:

• Identification
• Credit History
• Public Records
• Report Requests

The identification section has your name, current and former addresses, telephone number, Social Security number, birth date and job address. The most important thing to check in this section is the accuracy of your name and Social Security number. It's also important to remember to give your name on applications in the same way so that your credit information doesn't end up in multiple files. This is especially important for married or previously married women who can have several versions of their name.

The credit history section of your Trans Union free credit report is the record of credit accounts you've had for the previous seven years. This is the part of the credit report that a lender pays the most attention to. He wants to know five things:

• Have you payed your bills on time and for the full amount?
• How long have you had credit established?
• Have you recently opened any new accounts?
• How much do you owe overall and are your account balances low or high?
• Do you have a variety of account types?

If your Trans Union free credit report shows a few bill-paying problems, a creditor looks at their recency and seriousness. If you were late by 30 days on a bill from 3 years ago, it's much less serious then having an account in collections today. And like your bill-paying history, the length of time that you've had credit is another indicator of how you'll handle debts in the future. But if you have little credit history don't open up several new accounts at once as this increases your risk in the eyes of a lender.

Second only to bill paying in importance is the total amount of debt shown on your Trans Union free credit report. A creditor wants to see a history of handling your current debt level with no wide swings. He doesn't want to see accounts with high balances or lots of unused accounts. So it will benefit you if you pay down any high balance accounts and close unused ones.

Finally, a lender likes to see that your Trans Union free credit report shows a mixture of different accounts. For instance if all you had was credit card debt, you might improve your credit profile by opening a retail account or buy something on installments.