Free Credit Report > Credit Bureaus > Credit Reporting Bureau

Credit Reporting Bureau

A credit reporting bureau collects financial information about you and makes it available to you and other parties that request it. For instance, a lender can request a copy of your credit history from a credit reporting bureau before making a decision about whether or not to grant you a loan. Information the credit reporting bureau provides is very important.

It is important that you know the information that the credit reporting bureau has about you. You can find out when your check your credit report. You can request a copy of your free credit report by visiting our home page.

A credit reporting bureau can put all of your financial information on its credit reports. In fact a credit reporting bureau may keep your information on file for up to seven years. There are certain exceptions:

• Information about criminal convictions may be reported without any time limitation.
  
  
• Bankruptcy information may be reported for 10 years.
  
  
• Information reported in response to an application for a job with a salary of more than $75,000 has no time limit.
  
  
• Information reported because of an application for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance has no time limit.
  
  
• Information about a lawsuit or an unpaid judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer.

We urge you to check your credit report at least two times a year so that you can be certain that the information a credit reporting bureau has about you is accurate.