Our credit reports hold a lot of powerful information and it’s information used to determine if we qualify for everything from a job to a new home to a credit card. But as powerful as this data is, there are a lot of things your credit report doesn’t reveal – and you might be surprised, especially considering the growing number of “need to know” justifications are being made to gain access.
Salaries
For years, our salaries were included in our credit reports. Rarely was it accurate since our reports weren’t as closely monitored as they are today nor were that updated as often. This posed problems, of course, considering you might have put you earned so much money a year and then your credit report disputed that. Of course, pay stubs remedied that, but the inclusion of salaries really served no purpose. Now, though, and for the past two decades, our salaries are nowhere on our report, nor is information that would tell anyone looking where to find that information. Not only that, but things are different in terms of how we earn our money these days. Independent contractors, freelancers, those who earn commissions and a host of other variables play significant roles in how it all unfolds.
You should know nothing related to your health will ever show up – with one exception. If you don’t pay medical bills, and if they go to collections, it could show up on your credit report but only as an outstanding balance to a doctor or medical facility. It will never have any kind of information regarding the state of your health.
Need a Job
Would-be employers can conduct a routine credit pull if you give authorization and there aren’t many who won’t agree to it, especially considering the job market of late. But credit report are designed to provide information to a creditor who is considering lending you money in some form, either as a mortgage or credit card or a traditional bank loan. If creditors are determining your creditworthiness, companies are trying to determine if you’re desperate enough to steal or embezzle. It doesn’t tel those companies how many times you’ve been fired or laid off from a job. That said, there could be the name of a previous employer, though that depends on how much information any particular lender feeds into the data that goes to the bureaus.
Government Benefits
Your creditworthiness or anything else isn’t determined one way or the other by any government benefits you may receive, including food stamps, unemployment or other public assistance programs. Therefore, that information won’t be found in your credit history. Further, your business relationships with your utility companies will not show up, either. If you have a past due balance that goes into collections, you then run the risk of it showing as a collection account on your credit report. Stay in good standing and no one ever has to know how much your water bill is each month.
Information about your current or past spouses won’t show up, either unless there’s a judgment that includes both of you. There could be limited information on accounts that you’ve co-signed for, such as your daughter’s first car. And speaking of daughters, any child support are paid will not show up on a credit report, though child support you pay to a former spouse could show up.. It won’t provide information on things like speeding tickets, either unless you don’t pay it and it’s turned over to a collection agency, which is happening more frequently these days. Any other criminal information won’t show up either, even past convictions with one possible exception: if you’ve committed some kind of financial crime, and even then, it’s not likely you’ll find it on your reports.
Payday Loans
If you’ve ever taken out a car title loan or payday loan, it will never show up on your credit report, unless, again, you allowed it to go into default and it was turned over to a collection agency. At that time, odds are, anyone who sees your credit report will see the details of those loans. Also, prepaid debit cards aren’t considered actual credit products. If you have a prepaid card, you probably know you didn’t have to go through the traditional credit checks. Because of that, it’s never reported either.
Finally, you will never see your bank balance or other assets you own. That’s because your assets are just that: assets. It has little to do with your credit relationships. The only way anything like that would show up would be if you’ve paid your car or home off and then it would show as a paid account for an amount of time. It won’t tell the value of those assets, though.
Did any of these facts surprise you? Tell us about it in the comments or on our Facebook page.
Similar News
- In an Election Year, CARD Act Crucial
- What Are Parent PLUS Loans?
- FDIC Investigating Banks Offering Payday Loans
- Dimon Will Testify in Senate on Massive Loss
- Europe to Blame for Weak U.S. Job Growth?
- FTC Warns of Prepaid Card Scams
- Unemployment Filings Up by 2,000