How do I get my complete credit data file, not a "report" that is missing most data?

[Anonymous]

So everyone reading this knows what a credit report is, but what many of you don't know is that a credit report shows less than 1% of your credit data on file with the credit bureaus, and a merchant checking your credit has access to a LOT more of that data.

What makes this bad is that when I go to *any* of the sources for credit reports, what I see is missing a lot of information.  The worst reports are the ones from places like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, and all of the others…  Those companies show you the highlights of your credit reports, and only recent information on monthly reporting…  So for example if you paid a bill late 4 years ago, it still affects your Fico scores, and your creditors still see that derogatory mark, but Credit Sesame and Credit Karma don’t show it at all.  So those services report credit scores based on only partial data, which is less than useless.  Partial data can lead you to get into a bad situation.  For example, you sign a car buying contract thinking you can get 0% interest because of your great credit, and then are forced to accept a 16% rate because there are marks on your credit you didn’t know were still there.  (The car buying contract is a great example, because you have to commit to buying a car using all available credit options, before they have run your credit, locking you legally into a deal you might not know you could be forced into).  Obviously checking your Fico score first is critical, because Fico doesn’t mask hidden marks like Credit Karma does.  For those of us that thought we were getting good data from the free services, it is a real eye opener when you find out your credit is not as good as you thought it was!

Which brings me to the meat of my question…  How do you access your credit file in it’s entirety?  A report by it’s very nature, is a condensed summary of your credit information.  And depending on who the report is written for, it may have more or less information.  Consumer reports have the least information of them all.  So when you look at that report, you might think you are seeing good stuff…  But your creditor can see things like every monthly balance of every account, and make judgements you are not even aware they can make.  And it is unfair for YOU not to know EVERYTHING that your creditors can find out about you.  So how can you order a copy of your credit file from the credit bureaus?

I know the data is there, I had one creditor show me what he sees on a small portion of my report on his computer screen, and I was aghast at the detail there.  No report I have ever paid for included that info, and when I ask for more detail, I feel like I’m talking to a wall.  The bureaus are not set up to give people full access to their own data, I don’t think most consumers know to even ask, so there is no market for it.  And the law only gives us access to a “report”, which has zero of the detail that can be used against you.

Does anyone know what to ask for, and how to get the full credit data file for myself?

[HeavenOhio]

If you go to annualcreditreport.com, you're entitled to one free report from each bureau every year. These will be the full reports. Some people grab all three at once. Others get a report every four months. I don't know how it works if you want to pay for reports beyond the freebies.

[Anonymous]

I suggest that you start with the site Heaven mentioned just now.  ACR will give you the fullest version of your credit reports you are entitled to.  The ACR reports will include much or (perhaps all) of the stuff you were stunned to discover is part of your credit file but which is not included in the reports provided by 3rd party tools like myFICO, Credit Check Total, Credit Karma, etc.

One thing that the ACR reports will contains is trended data, which is a month-by-month listing of each balance on every credit card stretching back for 24 or more months, along with every payment you have made, every time your credit limit has changed, etc.  (Assuming the CC issuer has supplied these data to the bureau.)

Another thing the ACR reports will contain is a list of all of your soft inquiries.

One thing you mention is derogatory items like late payments.  I have not any derogs on my reports for a long time, so I cannot comment from direct experience, but I was fairly certain that the reports provided by Credit Karma do list all of your late payments (as well as other derogs).  (You mention that the reports provided by Credit Sesame do not show your late payments, but this is because CS does not provide credit reports, at least the last time I checked.  Karma does.)

An alternative to Karma that you might like is Credit Check Total.  Their $1 trial will give you a single merged 3-bureau report along with your FICO 8 classic score.  The reports will not include trended data, but since trended data do not affect your FICO score right now, that's not a big deal.  Certainly the report you get from CCT will show you all the derogs on your file, along with the other basic things any creditor will be interested in: hard inquiries, CC utilization, Average Age of Accounts, etc.  Many people get the CCT trial, and then cancel it after a week.  They do that once a quarter, say. 

The ACR reports will give you the trended data and the soft inquiries, neither of which affect any FICO score.

When a potential creditor pulls your report, he will not see anything more than the data you'd see in your ACR report.  (He won't see your soft pulls either.)  It is true that your credit file has more data than that -- for example it has any derogs you might have had say 12 or 13 years ago.  But these fall off the reports after 7 years, and the reports are all the bureau is allowed to share with the potential creditor. 

[RobertEG]

When you review the official credit reporting manual used the the big-3 CRAs, titled the "Credit Reporting Resource Guide," you see that there is a tremendous amount of information included in normal reporting that is not shown in any credit report available today.  Any credit report is always less than your complete credit file.

The report you can obtain from annualcreditreport.com was approved by the FTC via negotiations with the big-3 CRAs as an acceptable means, both in process and in content, for those three CRAs to officially meet their requirment to provide a free annual report to each consumer.  For that reason, the report you obtain from annualcreditreport.com is almost always the most complete report you can find.

However, realizing that consumers may still want some specific item of information that is not provided in the reports they have or can order, FCRA 609(a) is explicitly included in the FCRA to permit a consumer to obtain "any item of information in their credit file at the time of the request."

If there is a specific item of information that you want, then simply send a request under FCRA 609(a) and the CRA must provide that information if it is in your file.

Requests under section 609(a) require submission of proof of your identity, and the payment of a processing fee under FCRA 612(g).

The current amount of the fee required for info requested under section 609 is $12.00.