A 100% free credit report contains most, if not all the things that a creditor uses when deciding
whether to grant you credit. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act(ECOA) was written to ensure that
everyone is given an fair chance to get credit and that only financial considerations are used
in judging a credit application. A 100% free credit report shows you what information is
important for your credit and the ECOA shows you what isn't.
If the information in your 100% free credit report shows that you meet a creditor's standards,
the ECOA states that you can't be required to have a cosigner. But if a cosigner is necessary,
it can be someone other than your spouse. And when you apply for credit you must be told if
you've been accepted or rejected within 30 days. You also have the right to know the specific
reason if rejected or if you were offered less favorable terms.
If you change your name, marital status, retire or reach a certain age, you have the right to
keep previous accounts shown on your 100% free credit report unless the creditor can show that
you can't or won't pay your bills. And unless an account is inactive or delinquent, when an
account is closed or has the terms made less favorable, you have the right to know why.
The ECOA says that creditors reviewing the information in your 100% free credit report
may not consider your sex, race(or the race of those in your neighborhood), religion, national
origin or marital status. They can consider if you have a phone but not whether it's in your
name. Creditors must also disregard your age unless you're too young to legally sign a contract
or you're 62 or older and they rate that as positive or if using your age will help put some
other factor into context.
A creditor isn't permitted to show bias towards the source of your income listed in your
100% free credit report. Income from public aid, part-time work, annuities, retirement funds,
alimony and child support must be accepted like any other. Creditors can't discount a woman's
income or assume she will quit work to have or raise children.
To get your 100% free credit report and free 30 days of credit monitoring, please go to
free instant credit reports.
