How to Check Someone's Credit History

Have you been told that you have a bad credit history? Has your friend been denied a job or their car insurance increased dramatically? Or, are you looking at hiring a new employee for your business? For all three cases, you need to check credit history. This article will teach you to obtain a credit report history from the credit reporting agencies.

Things you’ll need

Computer

Time

Step 1

Have you been told that you have a bad credit history? What is a credit history? A credit history contains a person’s history of payments, credit and loan payment details, employee history, and much more. It is a number that measures personal risk, a snapshot in time of credit and the history before that day. There are three companies that you can get credit history reports from. They are TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax.

This first thing you will need to do is obtain your credit reports. Request a copy of your credit report from each of these three companies as soon as possible. Under the Federal FACT Act amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can receive one free copy per credit reporting company, per social security number, per year. You can request your reports online, with a letter, or by phone. I have provided you with the links to each credit reporting agency in the Resource Section below.

Step 2

After receiving your reports, check them page by page, noting any errors. You have the legal right to dispute any information contained on your credit report. When you dispute bad credit with the credit bureau, they have 30 days by law to verify the information. See my article on How to Dispute Credit Items to help you correct your credit report

Step 3

If you are an employer and want to check someone’s credit history, you must first have their permission to check their credit history. Once you have permission, you can access credit histories though websites such as Intellicorp or SentryLink, which convey information for businesses to make better decisions about perspective employees. A Pre-Employment Credit Report is a summary of an applicant's financial responsibility. The report provides addresses, past and current employers, any public filing information, an individual’s debt load, and payment history. Access to this type of product requires an approved application with a credit reporting agency. I have listed some links in the Resource Section below.

Step 4

I hope this requested article has taught you to check someone’s credit history!

Website Resources

Understanding Your FICO Score pdf booklet

http://www.myfico.com/Downloads/Files/myFICO_UYFS_Booklet.pdf

Equifax Free Credit Report

http://www.equifax.com/answers/request-free-credit-report/en_cp

Experian Free Credit Report

http://www.experian.com/

TransUnion Free Credit Report

http://www.transunion.com/corporate/personal/creditTools/freeCreditReport.page

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#1 Background Checks

https://http://www.1-background-checks.com/creditreport.cfm?AdID=5&hidedropdown=no&gclid=CKa7uLXgmJkCFQmIggodvXcwZw

IntelliCorp

http://www.intellicorp.net/brochure/ProductsOther.aspx