What Accounts Are Not Reported to Credit Bureaus?

Credit reports contain information pertaining to your management of credit accounts such as loans, mortgages and credit cards. Banks and credit unions do not typically report information relating to other kinds of accounts. Additionally, details of accounts that you establish with service providers are not usually reported to credit reporting agencies.

Deposit Relationships

Lenders use credit reports to determine whether you have a history of paying your debts as agreed. Consequently, lenders have no interest in data relating to deposit relationships because when you establish a deposit account, you are a creditor rather than a debtor. When you establish a savings account, your bank in its capacity as a borrower, pays interest on the money you lend it. On a checking account, the bank typically pays no interest but you are loaning the bank money in return for services related to that account. These kinds of relationships have no bearing on your credit score.

Investor Loans

Lenders usually have strict rules about lending and only allow people with good credit scores and suitable collateral to borrow money. However, if you are unable to qualify for a bank loan, you can borrow money from an investor. Some investment firms specialize in loaning money to start-up businesses or high-risk borrowers. Generally, these kind of speculative loans are not reported to credit rating agencies. Similarly, personal short-term loans financed by pay day advance offices or pawn brokers are not reported to the credit bureaus.

Small Lenders

Lenders are not required to report information about consumer loans to credit reporting agencies but most lenders do. Lenders can file monthly reports with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion with details of your account balances and your most recent payment activity. However, since it costs money to file these reports, some small banks and credit unions only work with one credit reporting agency.

Considerations

While financial institutions typically only file reports relating to your credit accounts, on some occasions details relating to other kinds of accounts are reported to the bureaus. If you overdraw a checking account, your bank lends you money to cover the debt and you must repay this money. When this occurs you become a debtor of the bank and if you fail to settle the debt, the bank can file a report relating to your overdrawn account with the credit bureaus. The same applies to other situations when you fail to settle a debt with a vendor or service provider.