Step 8 – Understand the Content of Credit Bureau Reports

Every time you get a credit card or a loan, the credit card company or the bank reports this information to the credit bureaus. This is their way of telling other lenders, "I gave this person money. I will let you know if they do not pay me what they owe."

If you are consistently late paying your bills or if you do not pay your bills at all, banks and credit card companies will also report this to the credit bureaus. If this happens often, other lenders will most likely say that you have a bad credit history and will decide not to loan you money.

Utility companies (like the electric company and telephone company) might report late payments and unpaid bills to credit bureaus as well. So will landlords and mortgage companies. The courts also report liens, judgments, and bankruptcies to the credit bureaus.

You should always be working on paying your outstanding debts.

Click here for the tool How To Maintain Your Credit Report to understand the specific contents of your credit report.