Authorized Personal Information

• The only personal information that can be reported on your credit report is your address (current and previous), your name, and your birthday. Various debts that are over seven years old or bankruptcies more than 10 years old can no longer be reported. Medical information can be reported only by your authorization. Any criminal convictions may also report on your credit. However, California residents' arrest and misdemeanor records must be removed after seven years.
  
  

Employment

• Potential employers have authorization to check your credit for you to be hired if you choose to allow them access. Also, current employers, such as those in the banking and finance industry, may want to check the credit of their employees to ensure they are not severely in debt and tempted to embezzle. When hired by these companies may either report your new position to your credit report, or an inquiry will be placed on your report for two years informing you that they accessed your credit.
  
  

Residents

• When you are trying to purchase a home or rent an apartment, your landlord or the mortgage company may check your credit to approve you. After you are approved your new address and other personal details can be uploaded to various credit bureaus. Also if you are in default of your loan or rent payment, your address, birth date, and even judgments can be added to your credit report by the landlord or mortgage company.
  
  

Applying for Credit

• When you apply for credit, the personal information you input on your application can be uploaded to your credit report by the creditor that you are applying for. Exercise judgment when applying for credit with certain creditors to ensure you are not working with a company that may pass on personal information that you would not like to have made public.
  
  

Reducing Personal Information Being Reported

• Personal information can also be uploaded to your credit report by not opting-out. When you opt-out, you will cease to receive credit card offers and other loan pre-approvals by mail or over the phone. Marketing firms may buy mailing lists of various consumers based on their salary and other personal information to solicit various offers. Often, this information is culled from previous companies you have worked with or catalogs you have ordered. Contact each credit bureau to specifically opt-out so your personal information can no longer be accessed by unauthorized parties.