More and more Americans are reading their own credit report.
Credit reports are (36) by lenders to decide how rrisky it
would be to offer a loan or credit to an individual. The report
holds information about a person’s (37) loans and
credit-card debt. It records late (38) of bills and any
unpaid loans. It all adds up to a credit history. These days, though, lenders
often welcome people with bad credit histories. They are (39)
higher interest rates and other loan costs. Some
Americans want to read their credit report to know if they have been a
(40) of identity theft. They can see if any loans or credit
cards have been (41) in their name with stolen personal
information. Another reason is that credit reports are not
always correct. They might (42) wrong information or old
information. Before 1971, Americans could not see any of this
information. One change, in 2001, permits people to see their FICO score. FICO
is short for the Fair Isaac (43) . (44)
Fair Isaac says many lenders not just in the United
States but around the world use its technology to create credit scores.
(45) . As of May, the company says it sold ten million credit
scores to individuals. (46) Paying bills
on time and paying off credit-card debt improves credit scores.