When you fill out and sign a credit application, you are giving permission to the creditor to obtain a copy of your credit report.

What is a Credit Report?

A credit report is a document that:

• Contains information about you and your payment history collected and organized by a credit reporting agency
• Is available to those who are considering granting you credit

How Credit Report Information is Collected

• Each time you are granted credit or make a payment on an account, that information is gathered by the nation's three major credit reporting agencies


• Equifax
• Experian
• TransUnion
• Creditors provide data to the credit reporting agencies


• Example: The type of account you have - such as revolving or instalment credit - and how often you pay


• These credit reporting agencies


• Collect and sort the information obtained from all over the country
• Package and sell the information in the form of a credit report


• Your current and potential creditors can then buy the credit report and evaluate whether or not to approve or deny you credit

Did You Know?

Credit reporting agencies simply report the facts on your credit background objectively - they do not approve or deny your request for credit.