The negatives that you will see are if you have a bankruptcy, past due payments, unpaid tax liens, and repossessions. Negatives can show on your report for a long time. For paid closed accounts and bankruptcies it is 10 years, for unpaid tax liens it is 15 years, for everything else it is 7 years.

The positives that you will see on your credit report will be when you pay your bills on time. This really helps your credit score. Also this helps you to be able to be approved for a loan, credit card, mortgages, etc. If you have a high credit score then you will have a lower interest rate.

Some employers check the applicants credit before considering hiring that person. This shows on the consumers credit report also. Although it does not affect the consumers credit score.

When you are repairing your credit there are only a few things that you can do. First of all it takes time. If you did fall into hard times then you just have to wait for those to fall off. You also need to keep paying your payments on time. Doing this will put positives on your report helping your credit score.

Next you need to check your credit report once a year. As a consumer you have the right to request a free credit report once every 12 months. You need to make sure that there is not inadequate information on you credit report. If there is, you need to write to the consumer credit company that reported it and have them investigate the situation. It helps if you can provide any information to back up that it is not correct.

When trying to repair your credit you have to watch out for companies that claim they can repair your credit quickly and that they will be able to take things off of your credit. This is a scam. The only way to take some off is what I mentioned above by writing a letter to the consumer credit report companies.

There are three companies that creditors report to. 1. Experian 2. Trans Union 3. Equifax.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was passed to help protect the consumer. It makes sure that the credit report companies are accurate in the information they collect and fair in their reports. It also protects the privacy of the consumers information given to the consumer credit reporting companies.

Amendments are added to continue to set guide lines for the consumer credit reporting companies to follow, insuring the protection of the consumer. Theses amendments put responsibilities on the companies that gather the information for your credit report.