The FCRA And Credit Rating

You may be a person that is currently having financial difficulties and are looking for a temporary solution to your present troubles. Loans are some of the more popular and oft used methods to address this problem. There are presently many different types of loans, including pawning jewelry and valuables at a pawnshop, asking a foundation to lend you some money, corporate loans, and more.

Home mortgage

One type of loan, especially those looking to pay larger debts than usual, is a home mortgage. A home mortgage (usually involving a bank but not limited to it) is simply a pledge or commitment in which a home owner offers the title of his property as a form of security for a loan – you place your home as the collateral. When you get your loan, you are required to pay a certain amount at different intervals, depending on what is agreed upon, and if you don’t, you could potentially lose your home.

However, not everyone can easily get a loan, especially from big banks and financial centers. Think about it – you yourself would be hesitant if a complete and total stranger came to you and asked to borrow some money, right? That is right about the same case when it comes to borrowing money from a bank or lender.

How do you go about securing a loan? You have to apply for it, which is no guarantee that it will be granted. Banks, financial companies, and other lenders will have to consider carefully your profile, particularly something called a credit rating.

Credit rating

A credit rating is something that is drawn up from credit reports, which details your credit activities such as borrowing, debt, payments, etc. Basically, the credit rating details the amount of credit which can be lent to a person without unwarranted risk. This essentially means that the higher your credit rating, the higher the loan amount you can get.

To get a good credit rating, which entails that the chances for you getting a loan (including the amount you need) are much higher than normal, you simply need to pay your bills and loans on time, as well as other financial obligations. A good credit rating is obviously much better than a lower one, since your financial opportunities are much wider than when compared to having a low rating, which severely limits what you can do financially.

Credit reports

It was mentioned that the credit rating comes from credit reports, so you might be asking, what are credit reports? They are actually the ones where your credit activities are recorded – including loans, balances, unpaid debts, along with a little bit of background information. These credit reports are gathered by credit bureaus, also known as a consumer reporting agency.

You might be wondering why such agencies exist – basically they are there to stabilize the financial market. Also, there is no need for you to worry as they exist legally, with the knowledge of the government, including what they do. In fact, there is a law called the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Fair Credit Reporting Act

This law is a federal law which regulates consumer credit information. By regulating this consumer credit information, credit ratings can then be properly given out with most, if not all, of the information at hand. There are certain rules and regulations which the consumer reporting agencies have to follow, which are found in this particular federal law.

This law is actually beneficial to the consumers, the consumer reporting agency, and the lenders. This law makes clear some of the potential problems that may arise between consumers and their credit rating, and tries to prevent that from occurring. Consumers themselves are entitled to one free credit report per year, thanks in part to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

In summary, you may probably want or need to get a loan via a home mortgage. If that is the case, it would be to your best interest that you have a good credit rating which is reflected on a very positive credit report. Since the credit rating and credit report are taken into great consideration when applying for a loan, the amount of credit rating you have proves to the lender how good you are when it comes to dealing in finances.