If you are a first time house buyer and applying for a home mortgage, you must have just encountered this strange term known as the "tri-merge credit report". This refers to a set of three separate credit reports obtained from the three big credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) and is used by banks and mortgage brokers to evaluate a loan borrower's credit potential. The average of these three credit scores is often used as the basis of the loan rejection or acceptance.

A credit score is computed from the history of a person's financial activity, namely the loan borrowing history, credit history and payment regularity. To have a high tri-merge credit score, you must not have previously declared bankruptcy and must have regularly and timely paid up any bills and debts if any. It is recommended that a person should review their personal credit score every year. If you do not know, Americans are entitled according to the law, one free credit report from the three major credit reporting bureaus every year. You can choose to contact these credit bureaus directly using the information below:

Trans Union, P.O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022, Ph. 800-916-8800

Experian, P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013, Ph. 888-397-3742

Equifax, P.O. Box 740243, Atlanta, GA 30374, Ph. 800-685-1111

It is a good idea to download and review your tri-merge credit report before planning any high priced item or secured personal loans that requires substantial cash and a long term loan commitment. You get a chance to correct and repair your credit score which may negatively affect your approval for a mortgage or other loan. Since the trimerge credit report is the average of the three credit bureau scores, so make sure you check all three reports.

Even if you think that you have a clean credit history and never even been in debt, it is still better to check before setting an appointment for a mortgage loan. This is because there is a chance for operator errors which causes negative entries to show up in your records due to mistaken identities or even identity theft. The timely approval for your loan can make or break your future so it is better for you to check and fix any uncalled for problems with the credit bureaus.

When you contact the credit bureau that wrongly reports your credit history, it is required by the law to prove any negative entries that appear on your report within 14 days or they will be automatically removed. For example, sometimes after you have fully repaid a loan, the records were not updated and you get an outstanding loan entry sitting in your records for years. And that is how your credit score ended up being so bad and you have to resort to a bad credit home mortgage loan. Sometimes the creditor went out of business and the loan entries are simply left untouched because they cannot verify or update the loan status.

When confronting the credit bureau regarding any conflicting records, make sure you gather as much evidence and supporting documents to backup your case. Most erroneous bad credit issues can be removed from your tri-merge credit report without the need to bring in a credit repair lawyer or credit repair agency.

Learn to protect yourself by regularly looking at your own credit history and proactively repair your credit score. If you are already entitled to freely examine your tri-merge credit scores, make good use of these credit resources to forestall any compilations that may cause you misery, for instance losing the sales of your dream house to another family just because you cannot get a mortgage loan in time due to an erroneous bad credit report.