The FICO score was created by the Fair Isaac Corporation and is used by money lenders to determine what type of loan you should receive, how big a loan you are entitled to, and what sort of interest and repayment rates you should have. Your credit worthiness depends upon various factors in your credit history - factors which are recorded by Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion to provide credit reports to money lenders.



A little known fact is that around 80% of all credit reports have erroneous information in them. This misinformation can cost you money by damaging your FICO score. Whilst there may be many things on your credit report that you would like to be removed, only in cases where information is incorrect can that actually be done.





Owing to the fact that so many credit reports contain errors the Fair Credit Report Act was brought into effect. Under this act it is every citizen’s right to be able to obtain a copy of their credit report. Any copy which you receive must contain the complete information stored about you on your credit files.



It is now the legal obligation of Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian to provide any citizen with a completely free copy of their credit report when asked for. Under federal law you are able to get a free credit report from each of these firms once every twelve months. If you want to obtain your own free credit report it is possible to find the official website that provides the service provided by TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian through searching the internet.



In some cases you may find certain companies deny you access to credit, employment, or insurance. In these cases it is possible to demand a free credit report from them to confirm the reasons why you have been declined. If you wish to do so, you must request your report within two months of your declination.



If you need to know who has asked to see your credit report in the past year you are able to do so. Furthermore if you are denied an application for credit, insurance, or something similar then you are allowed to know who provided the credit report upon which the decision was based provided that it was the credit report which catalyzed the decision.



If you want to repair a poor credit score there are a variety of measures which you should take all of which will contribute to an improvement of your score. Whilst there is no such thing as an overnight fix for a bad credit score, a little time and patience is all it takes (as well as prudent action).



Ensure that you pay off all of your credit card debts. It is also important to make credit card repayments on time and preferably early. If you make a late repayment it will damage your credit score so it is counterproductive to your aim of improving your score.



It is also advisable to check your credit reports in case of identity theft.