Credit reports are often viewed with dread, especially by those who have entered difficult financial waters, however the reality is they are never your devil, even when the information maybe unwelcome. In order to achieve financial health, and clear up any debt issues you may have, it's necessary to have the best information possible about your credit status, that credit data is found, by both you and the lender, but more importantly, by you, in your detailed credit reports.

How and where to locate and obtain your credit reports, in the U.S.A credit reports are maintained, principally by the three major credit reporting agencies;

1. Equifax - PO Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374 or,

2. Experian - PO Box 2002, Allen TX 75013 or,

3. TransUnion - PO Box 2000, Chester, PA 19022.

Your credit reports contain a multiple year history of your home loans, credit cards and a range of other loans and debts, they also record all late payments that occurred and how late they were, 30 day past due, 60 day past due, 90 day past due etc, the reports will categorize all current and previous address, and most likely your contact numbers and social security number. This facts is readily available to any qualified party for example, a bank, a credit card issuing company, a mortgage lender and certain others during legal proceedings. Nevertheless, though the companies all genuinely try to maintain accurate information, the reports could possibly contain mistakes.

Identifying mistakes in credit reports.

Credit reports could frequently include loans as active when they have been paid off, they could possibly list current credit cards you cancelled long ago and could also fail to include payments made to make up overdue amounts and arrears. Many times, this is not sloppiness on the part of the credit bureaus nevertheless simply an indication of timing and other general} human errors in keeping such information, the world could be computerized, nonetheless those databases still don't always communicate adequately between different companies and organizations using different systems.

The only thing that an individual can do about this, most often out of self-protection, if nothing else, is to acquire copies from all three agencies and review them thoroughly, make a thought of any mistakes, obtain evidence of the mistake and then forward a registered letter with the proof to the agency asking them to correct the data. Thanks to recent government legislation, you can obtain one free copy of your credit report per year, there are plenty ways to do this, online by filling out a form or by calling, another way is to visit - Annual Credit Report online.

Lastly, on a more positive thought, having the information at hand allows you to develop a debt-free plan for your future, understanding your past credit history is the first step in building any debt consolidation solution.