Taking advantage of the new FACT Act to pull one of my credit reports from one of the three companies, I saw that only my credit card appeared on the report. My cell phone contract, however, did not. I know that they did a credit check when I was buying my cell phone and I assumed that the cell phone contract would appear. True, it’s not a debt exactly, but I think I was reasonable to assume that it would appear there. So, what else goes on a credit report? Car leases? Financing agreements for appliances, furniture, computers? But not things like cell phone contracts?
Any creditor may report a debt or account, but they aren’t required to.
In order to report, a creditor must first establish a relationship with one or more bureaus. This costs money. So many creditors don’t bother.
If a creditor pulls a a report, that shows as an inquiry for a while, and then drops off, but it does not generate a tradeline, which is the type of entry that shows the kind of account, balance, and payment history.
Credit reports will show:
- Revolving credit accounts (major CCs, most store credit cards, etc.)
- Loans (car loan, mortgage, student loans, and things you may not even think were set up as loans, like some gym memberships.)
- That’s pretty much it.
Service providers, employers, and landlords may often check your credit report to determine your worthiness, but they only rarely report credit information.
If you don’t pay your cell phone bill, it will be put on your credit report so fast your head will spin. I pull credit reports at work, and cell phone deliquencies run second only to student loans as a source of bad credit.
Ah, I see. So, keep paying my credit card and cell phone bills on time, and ignore what they say about my credit score, huh? (Personally, I think it’s a great credit report for someone my age who was lucky enough to not need to take student loans.)
Some cell phone providers report positive accounts, others do not. Any unpaid bill will probably wind up on your credit report sooner or later.
Verizon did not always do so, now it does. It just started showing up recently on my Equifax Credit Report.
By the way, your best source for credit reporting info is probably a message board named “Creditnet”.
Another thing that would benefit your credit would be re-paying a non-revolving debt, preferably one that takes three or more years to repay. Even if you have a good score, if you don’t have at least one trade line like that one your report, it can be harder to borrow for a car.
The following drifts towards IMHO.
Here’s my suggestion though: don’t bother getting into debt you don’t need to be in just to jack up your credit.
Save cash now for your next car. Pay for a cheap used one in cash.
Save for a house. If you can put down 20% on a house, you’ll get financing.
If you aren’t responsible enough to save tens of thousands of dollars, you’re probably not responsible enough for a house. A house can bleed you dry.
Having just lived through a nightmare of identity theft and playing with the three major U.S. credit reporting bureaus, I feel reasonably confident in answering this.
Generally, your credit report (at least the ones they sent me) will show
All the accounts you have open, when they were opened, your high balance, (sometimes) your average balance and your current balance. They also note if the account is current, behind, in collection, or in bankruptcy.
Accounts that you recently closed.
Alternate names and addresses you may have used to get credit.
And inquiries from companies about your credit report.
The inquiries section is great, because, even if a company doesn’t bother to report the new account, you can go back to the recent inquiries to see who was checking your credit. That’s how I figured out my doppleganger had stolen my account information to get a cell phone.
Incidentally, remember all those charge accounts you opened to get an extra 10% on that day’s total purchase? The odds are good they’re still open, just waiting for someone to charge on them again.
If I can bump this a bit to ask a related question:
How can I increase my credit rating?
As I see it, I have a low credit rating because I’m young and only have the one revolving account, not because I’ve missed payments or anything like that. Thanks a bunch to my parents, I don’t have any student loans and I already have a car that I plan on driving until the wheels fall off (I really like this car). That can change, of course, but I’m definitely not in the market at the moment. If I go onto grad school, I probably won’t get a house, unless the house payments are about the same as staying in graduate housing or getting an apartment. If I get a job, of course, everything changes. I almost never use my credit card, preferring to use my debit card so that I can’t get myself into any trouble. Would buying more things on my credit card and then making the payment be better for credit building?
About the other, long-term loans. If I don’t need a car and don’t get a house, would it be worth getting a consumer good (like a new computer or something) on financing? You know, something fairly large that I want or need. Assuming the interest wasn’t too bad and I liked the terms, of course. I know that it’s bad to get into debt just because I want something like an iPod, but if my choices are to save up the money and buy it outright or finance it and pay some more to help build a credit rating, is it a good idea or not? (Assuming it’s a habit I don’t allow myself to get into, of course.)
Here are some good links to start with
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Yourcreditrating/P38048.asp
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Yourcreditrating/P38052.asp
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Yourcreditrating/P38052.asp
http://www.go-uag.com/services/31_facts.html
regarding your specific questions:
Would buying more things on my credit card and then making the payment be better for credit building?
Probably. But make sure you don’t charge too much. Part of the scoring model is based on how close your accounts are to their limits.
would it be worth getting a consumer good (like a new computer or something) on financing?
No. Having finance companies on your credit report lowers your score.
Your best bet right now is to get a couple more “good” accounts on your report and pay them religiously. Credit cards or bank loans–not finance companies. If you finance something through a retailer, the loan will probably show up as a finance company loan, which, as I said, actually hurts you. Get a couple department store charges or credit cards, but don’t abuse them.
So financing a computer from Dell is a strike against you, but getting a bank to loan you a couple thousand to buy said computer and then paying the back is good for you? Weird.
Back in the old days I had a credit card with B of A (BankAmericard ?). I paid the full amount every month. They reported me as something like “doesn’t fulfill credit contract”. 
I found out later that this was bad.
Keep in mind that the way that Fair Isaacs originally came up with credit scores was to examine many thousands of accounts (originally mortgages I believe) that went bad verses ones that did not. In doing so they discovered certain factors that correlated with an increased likelihood of default. The point being that something which lowers a credit score doesn’t necessarily imply bad behavior, just behavior that occurs more frequently in those who default relative to those who do not. I have no doubt but that if credit scoring agencies had almost complete knowledge as to your daily life that many things such as watching certain television shows, liking NASCAR, or driving certain vehicles, and eating at certain restaurants wouldn’t cause you to have a lower credit score.
The scoring model looks at it like this: This guy financed a computer through Dell *because *he couldn’t do it through a bank or with a credit card. He must have some credit blemishes that we haven’t picked up on yet. So we will reduce his score.
They have established a correlation between using finance companies and filing for bankruptcy, so the score indicates that you are more likely to file for bankruptcy if you use finance companies. So don’t, unless you don’t have a choice.
Of course, if Dell finances through a bank, like GMAC, the loan might actually improve your score.
Who started a credit report thread without notifying me? 
I’ll be over here trying to survive this FACTA rollout.
You and me both.