Missing accounts on my credit report

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 voluntarily supply information to the credit bureaus: Some travel, entertainment, gasoline card companies, local retailers, student loan lenders and credit unions are among this group of non-reporting creditors.

If you've been told 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, you might consider asking your creditors to begin reporting your credit information to credit bureaus. It won't hurt to ask, but keep in mind that creditors are not required to report consumer credit information to credit bureaus. Another possible option is to move your account to a different creditor who does report regularly to credit bureaus.