Who Has Access to Your Credit Report By FederatedCreditCards.Com Copyright © 2008

The people and institutions you do business with, for example, lenders, insurance companies, landlords, government agencies, employers, and any company with whom you apply for credit or have a legitimate business transaction with, all have access to your credit report. The FCRA or Fair Credit Reporting Act specifies who can request a copy of your credit report and for what reasons they may request it. The FCRA requires some of these groups, such as employers, have your written consent before requesting your credit report. Most other groups are allowed to access your credit report without your permission. Note that your consent is not required for "soft" credit inquires in connection with pre-approved credit offers. In these cases the lenders don't actually see your credit report, but rather, some of your information is sold to them by the credit reporting companies for marketing purposes.

Businesses are not required to obtain your permission to access your credit report. This can be a problem when they do what is known as a "hard inquiry". Hard inquires can lower your credit score since they are interpreted as an attempt by you to obtain more credit. Many consumer complaints have resulted because of these credit checks. For example, car rental companies will do a "hard inquiry" of your credit if you attempt to rent a car with a bank debit card. That can lower your overall credit score. While the impact of hard inquiries is generally short lived, you do not want multiple hard inquires on you credit report in a short period of time.

Employers normally get a different version of your credit report than do institutions that are considering granting credit. Employers are primarily interested in how you manage your payment responsibilites and don't have a need to see many of the other items on a credit report. When lending institutions access your report for the purpose of a credit check, this is always recorded. Your credit report should have the names of those who requested your report over the past two years.

Some institutions also check your credit report once you have already obtained a loan, for example, to make sure you still meet their credit standards.

Since credit reporting mistakes do happen, and incorrect information can find its way on to credit reports, it's a good idea to check your report annually. Please see our learning center article Get a Free Copy of Your Credit Report for more detail.