I just got my credit report but it doesn't list my college loans that I paid off quite a few years ago or my payment history on former credit cards. Wouldn't this information improve my credit profile?
2007-05-25 18:19:35 · 3 answers · asked by africanviolet 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
I paid off my guaranteed student loan early (in 18 mths) and have almost always paid off my credit cards each month (first card in 1980). Since I don't have a lot of credit activity at the present time I was wondering if that history from about 20 yrs ago would be taken into consideration if I were to apply for a large loan now (car, house)?
2007-05-26 12:14:38 · update #1
Any accounts that have derogatory information (late payments, etc.) are dropped off your credit history after 7 years.
Any accounts that have no derogatory information may remain on your history indefinitely, but as a general rule, drop off after about 10 years.
Not all creditors report to all 3 credit bureaus, so you also need to check all 3 to see if the accounts are showing up on one of the other credit bureaus.
Additionally, credit reporting is voluntary for the creditors, so you can't force a creditor to report an account. If they choose not to report, you are out of luck.
Not having had much credit history in the past 20 years, you may not even have enough information reported now to even have a credit score. If you are contemplating a major purchase in the next year or so, you should check all 3 credit bureaus to see if there is information being reported. You can get your report for free using www.annualcreditreport.com
If you have very little information reported on your history, you may want to get your credit scores to see what they are, and if there are any reasons given for your score that you could change in the next year.
Your situation of not having used credit for several years and now contemplating a large purchase using credit is an illustration of why it's a good idea to have a couple of credit card accounts open, used at least once every 3 - 6 months and paid on time each time they are used. If you drop out of the credit scoring universe, it can be hard to get back in if you want to.
2007-05-26 05:31:34 · answer #1 · answered by aj485 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Much depends on the firms with which you had debt agreements. Information will only appear in your credit file if the firm reports it to a credit bureau. There is no requirement for them to report it.
Furthermore, credit information drops, by law, from your credit file after approximately seven years.
2007-05-26 00:20:01 · answer #2 · answered by acermill 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on how far back you paid them off.
Credit reports usually only report information on activity dating back 7 years. :)
Hope that helps, Hon.
2007-05-25 18:29:13 · answer #3 · answered by Gothic Martha™ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not really. It was taken into account back then, and even though it's not still recorded, it reflects in your score.
2007-05-25 18:27:03 · answer #4 · answered by Mav. 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋