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Credit Advice
Topics addressed on August 31, 2011:
Finding out what accounts are hurting your credit
Dear Experian,
How can I find out what accounts are hurting my credit?
- RBR
Dear RBR,
Your personal report from Experian provides information to help you identify accounts that are hurting your credit, and a credit score disclosure can provide additional direction.
The credit report includes a section called “potentially negative items.” The key word is “potentially.” Experian doesn’t make judgments about the information in your credit report, but based on experience, it identifies those accounts that are likely to be viewed as negative by your lenders.
Sometimes, however, your risk factors may not be so easily identified. For example, even if you always pay on time, your balances may to too high for that lender or you may not have sufficient history.
For that reason, we recommend that at least once, you purchase a credit score, which will come with risk factor statements that describe the things that are having the most negative effect on your credit scores. You can use those risk factors to better understand how lenders might evaluate your risk and to identify actions you may take if you need to improve your risk position and get better scores. It can be very educational and well worth the investment.
Thanks for asking.
- The "Ask Experian" team