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With all the information available on the Internet and in data files, you can easily become concerned about what exactly is in your credit report and what is not. In order to set the record straight and put you at ease from the beginning, your credit report from Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion does not contain:
- Your religious preference
- Your political affiliation
- Your checking- or savings-account information or major purchases that were paid in full with cash or check
- Business accounts (unless you're on record as being personally liable for the debt)
- Details about your personal lifestyle or friends
- Bankruptcies that are more than ten years old
- Charge-offs or debts placed for collection that are more than seven years old
- Your credit score (Although your credit score is generated based on information in your credit report, it is not part of the report itself.)
Before you get too comfortable with what's not disclosed in your credit report, be aware of this. Indirect disclosure may allow some of your "personal" information to get passed on. Medical information is one example. Even though credit bureaus do not report medical history, detail on your credit report might give away information about your medical condition. Here's how: Say, you're paying off a debt for a hospital stay. The account noted on your credit report names the facility — the Mental Health Center for Individuals with Chronic Fear of Flying. You apply for a job as a flight attendant. As part of its background check, your prospective employer requests a copy of your credit report. They easily deduce that you have (or had) a fear of flying, and they know that this job will require a lot of it. A week later, you get a letter saying the position has been filled.
Okay, so this is a pretty extreme example. But it illustrates that, without disclosing medical reports or particulars about a health condition, the detail on your credit report can reveal personal information that is legally restricted from your file. Some other disclosures that can happen include employment history you forgot to mention to a prospective employer, frequent changes of addresses (which might make you look unstable), and multiple inquiries from Central Credit for gambling lines of credit (which could raise a question for a lender or an employer).
But help is at hand! Under a new FACTA provision, consumer credit-reporting agencies may not report the name, address, or telephone number of any medical creditor unless the information is provided in codes that do not identify or imply the provider of care or your medical condition. Another section of FACTA says a creditor may not obtain or use medical information to make credit decisions.
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