1. How many credit cards do you have now and how many have you had in the past?

2. Were you ever late in making your monthly payments on these credit cards?

3. If so, how late, how many times were you late, and on how many credit cards?

4. How many loans have you had and/or currently still have that are outstanding?

5. How many have you paid off, successfully, meaning - never late?

7. Again, were you ever late in making any of your monthly payments on a given loan?

8. How much money do you owe in total?

9. Compared to your net income is it a small amount?

10. Or, do you owe so much it's becoming a strain of your current and future financial health?

The answers to all of these personal questions influence the building and design of your credit history. So, whether we like it or not, there is this picture of us out there, a snapshot so to speak of our personal credit history. Basically, how we rate. How successful we are in making payments and on time. Our credit history is a mirror image based on our past credit performance which is constantly being updated by third parties. Unfortunately, more often than not it doesn't exist to sing our praises when we succeed, but to bring down our credit when we have inadvertently been in default or just messed up. So, who took this picture of us and how can we change it?

Credit Reports contain a current and detailed account of your credit history. Your Creditors are constantly submitting updates on your performance to the credit bureaus. The Credit Bureaus in turn compile this information and sell it to other creditors whenever you apply for credit or financing.

Although Credit reports are maintained by hundreds of bureaus only the three major bureaus Equifax, Trans Union and Experian are typically included in determining your overall credit.