Some creditors don’t report complete account histories to credit reporting agencies, while others don’t report information about their customers at all. The concept of Full Reporting refers to a situation where creditors would routinely report all the details of their customers’ accounts, positive as well as negative, to Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union.

A move toward Full Reporting is not only a goal for the credit reporting agencies (CRAs), but also for you, the consumer. It only makes sense that when you are making efforts to improve your credit or qualify for a loan, you would benefit from having as much positive information on your credit report as possible.

Although most major lenders report to all three CRAs, some accounts you have with them may not be included on your credit report at all. Whether or not an account will be reported to the credit bureau is a good question to pose to a creditor when you first open a new account.

On the other hand, a creditor will sometimes report an account to a credit bureau, but leave out certain sensitive data such as your credit limit, whether you pay more than the minimum balance, or how long you’ve been their customer. This type of partial reporting makes it more difficult for creditors to assess your credit risk and obligations.

What You Can Do to Achieve Full Reporting of Your Accounts

The process of obtaining new credit at favorable rates is directly related to the information on your credit report. If your accounts aren’t reported by your creditors, or are reported only partially, other credit granters must assess your credit worthiness based only on the information available.

The best thing to do in these situations is to make sure that you have selected credit card issuers and/or loan providers that will report the positive payment history you are setting out to create. And of course, follow up on what information is being passed on by regularly checking your report.

Most national department store and all-purpose bank credit card accounts do report to credit bureaus, and this data will be included in your file. Creditors that don’t report to credit bureaus include some travel accounts, entertainment companies, gasoline card companies, local retailers and credit unions.

Another step to take is contacting the credit bureau. Though they are under no obligation to do so, many credit bureaus will add verifiable accounts for a fee. The information will only be available for a short time, however. Though you may be able to add information on your non-reported accounts, these items will not be updated in your file if the creditor doesn’t report them. This course of action may be worth pursuing however, if you are planning a major purchase or shopping for a new home.

Consumer Rights and the Fair Credit Reporting Act

If a number of your creditors do not report information to the credit bureaus, you may find it difficult to obtain credit elsewhere. You may be told you were denied credit due to such notations in your file as “insufficient credit file” or “no credit file.” The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) requires the creditor to give a reason for the rejection of an application if you ask for it.