Free Personal Credit Report

A creditor is generally concerned with three things:

Capacity
Capacity is the ability to repay a loan. Creditors will look at the work information in your free personal credit report. This includes such things as your occupation, where you work, how long you've been there and sometimes, how much you make.

After getting an idea of your income, the creditor will check your expenses and whether you're paying alimony, child support or other fixed obligations.

Character
Character is a determination by the creditor on how reliable you are. He'll check the payment history in your free personal credit report noting how much you've borrowed, how much you owe and if you've made your payments on time. It's also a positive if you've been at the same address for a number of years and that you own your home instead of renting.

Collateral
Finally, a creditor wants to see some collateral that would help cover the debt if you should fail to repay it. This can be either a fixed asset like real estate or it could be a secondary source of income.

Because it's faster and unbiased, creditors usually apply a scoring system to these three areas. And since creditors use different scoring systems they will come up with different levels of acceptability for your free personal credit report. But however a creditor rates your credit, he is barred by the Equal Credit Opportunity Act from considering your gender, race, national origin(although immigration status may be considered), religious affiliation or marital status.