In the United States, your credit report is a record of your repayment of debts collected from several sources, including banks, credit card companies, and collection agencies. Your credit worthiness is further represented by your FICO score – a number generated by applying a mathematical algorithm to your credit report and other sources of information to predict the likelihood you will repay a loan or line of credit.

This Consumer Alert discusses the credit checking process, the importance of a credit score, federal laws that govern the businesses that report on your credit history, and your right to obtain a free credit report annually from consumer reporting agencies and dispute inaccurate credit items.

Read the full alert here.