Credit Cards/Information

What is Credit
                 Credit is the provision of resources (such as granting a loan) by one party to another party where that second party does not immediately pay the first party for the resources in full, thereby generating a debt, and instead arranges either to pay for or to return those resources (or equivalent value) at a later date. The first party is called a creditor, also known as a lender. The second party is called a debtor, also known as a borrower.

Any movement of financial capital is normally quite dependent on credit, which in turn is dependent on the reputation or creditworthiness of the entity which takes responsibility for the funds.

Information About Credit Bureau
A credit bureau
               (U.S.), or credit reference agency (UK) is a company that provides consumer credit information on individual borrowers. This helps lenders assess credit worthiness, the ability to pay back a loan, and can affect the interest rate applied to loans. Interest rates are not the same for everyone, but instead are based on risk-based pricing, a form of price discrimination based on the different expected costs of different borrowers, as set out in their credit rating.

Credit bureaus collect and collate personal financial data on individuals and businesses from data furnishers with which the bureaus have a relationship. Data furnishers are businesses, utilities, debt collection agencies, public institutions, and the courts (i.e. public records) that a consumer or business has had a relationship or experience with. Data furnishers report the experience with the consumer or business to the credit bureaus. The data provided by the data furnishers as well as collected by the bureaus are then aggregated into the credit bureaus data repository or files. The resulting information is made available on request to contributing companies for the purposes of credit assessment and credit scoring. Given the large number of consumer borrowers, these credit scores tend to be mechanistic. In other words, the different credit bureaus collect data from a variety of sources and then apply a mathematical algorithm to assess the likelihood that an individual will repay a given debt given the frequency that other individuals in similar situations have defaulted. Most consumer welfare advocates advise individuals to review their credit reports at least once per year, in order to ensure that the reports are accurate.

Commercial credit reports and scoring, which report the statistic likelihood of a business paying creditors, also exist, such as the Paydex score from Dun and Bradstreet and the Experian Intelliscore

Credit Report
credit report is, in many countries, a record of an individual's or company's past borrowing and repaying, including information about late payments and bankruptcy. The term "credit reputation" can either be used synonymous to credit history or to credit score.

How credit rating is determined
Credit ratings
            are determined differently in each country, but the factors are similar, and may include:

Payment record - a record of bills being overdue will lower the credit rating.
Control of debt - Lenders want to see that borrowers are not living beyond their means. Experts estimate that non-mortgage credit payments each month should not exceed more than 15 percent of the borrower's after tax income.
Signs of responsibility and stability - Lenders perceive things such as longevity in the borrower's home and job (at least two years) as signs of stability. Having a respected profession can improve a credit rating.
Re-Aging - Through re-aging, a credit history is re-written and you are given a fresh start on that particular account. This can dramatically improve the credit score. In 2000 the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFEIC) clarified guidelines on re-aging accounts for delinquent borrowers

Credit inquiries – An inquiry is a notation on a credit history file. There are several kinds of notations that may or may not have an adverse effect on the credit score. Soft pulls don't affect the credit score and are characteristic of the following examples:
A credit bureau may sell a person's contact information to an advertiser purchasing a list of people with similar characteristics, like homeowners with excellent credit. A creditor can check a person's credit periodically. Or, a credit counseling agency, with the client's permission, can obtain a client's credit report with no adverse action. Each of the preceding examples are commonly referred to as a "soft" credit pull.

However "hard" credit inquiries are made by lenders. Lenders, when granted a permissible purpose by a borrower for the purposes of extending his credit, can check his credit history. Hard inquiries from lenders directly affect the borrower's credit score. Keeping credit inquiries to a minimum can help a person's credit rating. A lender may perceive many inquiries on a person's report as a signal that the person is looking for loans and will possibly consider that person a poor credit risk.

Credit cards that are not used - Although it is believed that having too many credit cards can have an adverse effect on a credit score, closing these lines of credit will not improve your score. The credit rating formula looks at the difference between the amount of credit a person has and the amount being used, so closing one or more accounts will reduce your total available credit. And the lower the percentage of available credit, the more the credit score will drop. The credit formula also factors in the length of time credit accounts have been open, so closing an account with several years of history is another avoidable credit mistake