Your credit file may not reflect all your credit accounts. Although most national department store and all-purpose bank credit card accounts will be included in your file, not all creditors supply information to credit bureaus : Some travel, entertainment, gasoline card companies, local retailers, and credit unions are among those creditors that don't. If you've been told that you were denied credit because of an "insufficient credit file" or "no credit file" and you have accounts with creditors that don't appear in your credit file, ask the credit reporting agency to add this information to future reports. Although they are not required to do so, many credit bureaus will add verifiable accounts for a fee. However, understand that if these creditors do not report to the credit bureau on a regular basis, the added items will not be updated in your file. Sample Letter to Add Positive Information to Your Credit Record

Date Credit Bureau Name Address City, State Zip To Whom It May concern : After reviewing my recent credit report from your company, I noted that my credit report does not include information that I know is important to providing a complete picture of me as a credit using consumer. Therefore, I request that you add the following account information on my credit file. Creditor : Address : Account Type : Date Opened : Credit Limit : Balance : ( If it's an open account ) If there is any fee for this service or for any additional information you might need from me, you can reach me at ( your phone number ). Thank you in advance for your unparalleled assistance. Sincerely, your signature Your Name Address Social Security Number Date Of Birth For Example : Suppose you had bought a used car from a used car lot 4 years ago. And the cost for your used car was $8000.00, which you have paid off in 2 years. If you can show on your credit report the auto loan you've paid off, that can dramatically change your credit report. Therefore, what you can do is contact the your used car dealership and demand for your account to be reported. Or you can request a copy of your auto loan payment history to be mailed to you so you can mail it yourself to the credit bureaus. It's important to ask yourself why a certain account was not reported on your credit report. In most cases small businesses avoid reporting to credit bureaus because it cost businesses money to report your payment history to credit bureaus every month. To put it simply, every business who wants to report their clients account payment history will have to subscribe to these credit bureaus and the subscription cost the business money.