How to Add Positive Information to Your Credit Reports

October 8, 2019
Shawn Lane
Consumer Credit Expert

It’s important to make sure the information on your three credit reports is accurate. Errors and mistakes on your credit reports can potentially hurt your credit scores and make it difficult or even impossible to qualify for new financing when you need it. 

But what if positive information is missing from your credit reports? Is there anything you can do to get potentially beneficial accounts added? 

Credit Reporting Isn’t Required

Believe it or not, there’s nothing in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) that requires a creditor to furnish information about you to the credit bureaus. The FCRA simply states that if a creditor does report your account information to Equifax, TransUnion, or Experian, it has to follow the rules

Creditors actually must apply to furnish data to each credit bureau. Getting approved isn’t an easy process, but most creditors will go through it to have the option to report information about their customers. Why? Because credit reporting helps lenders hold customers accountable. After all, if you know paying late could hurt your credit, you’ll probably try to avoid late payments.

Nonetheless, some creditors may choose not to report. Others might furnish data to one or two credit bureaus, but not all three. (This practice seems to be more common with smaller, local lenders.) 

Here’s the bad news. If a creditor doesn’t want to report data to the credit bureaus, there’s nothing you can do to make it change its mind. Credit reporting is voluntary. A creditor chooses whether or not it wants to report information to a credit bureau. The credit bureau chooses whether or not it wants to accept a creditor’s data and include it on your credit report. 

Other Ways to Add Positive Information to Your Reports

You can’t control whether a lender decides to share data with the credit bureaus. Yet there are some things you can control when it comes to adding positive information to your credit reports. 

You can take advantage of consumer-permissioned data
Recently, some of the credit bureaus have opened the door to accept consumer-permissioned data. Consumer-permissioned data is information (from a reliable source) to which you give a credit bureau access. For example, you might allow your bank to share your transaction history with a credit bureau. 

Why would you give a credit bureau permission to access more of your information than it already has? You might consider doing so if the information could potentially improve your credit score. 

In the last year the credit world has seen the launch of three major consumer-permissioned products that have the potential to influence your Experian and TransUnion credit reports and/or scores: 

o   Experian Boost  – May influence Experian credit report and scores (FICO 8, FICO 9, and VantageScore scoring models that consider utility data)
o   UltraFICO  – May influence FICO 8 and 9 Scores at Experian only

o   eCredable Lift – May influence TransUnion credit report and scores that consider utility data
If you’re interested in adding alternative data like utility accounts, mobile phone accounts, or bank account information to your credit reports, you can check out these options for more information. 


You can be picky about who gets your business
Another way to control the information on your credit reports is to research in advance, before you apply for new credit cards or loans. If your goal is to add positive information to your credit reports, you should only apply for new accounts with lenders who supply data to all three credit bureaus. 

Pay Attention to Your Whole Report

It’s important to establish positive credit history, especially if you’re trying to rebuild your credit after facing some setbacks. But you shouldn’t expect new accounts to erase or outweigh previous credit problems. 

If questionable negative information is hurting your credit, the Financial Renovation Solutions team may be able to help. Call 214-856-0068 to schedule a free credit analysis