More and more Americans are reading their own credit report. Credit reports a

More and more Americans are reading their own credit report. Credit reports are issued by lenders to decide how risky it would be to offer a loan or credit to an individual.
   The report holds information about a person’s current loans and credit-card debt It records late payments of bills and any unpaid loans. It all adds up to a credit history. These days, though, lenders often welcome people with bad credit histories. They are charged higher interest rates and other loan costs.
   Some Americans want to read their credit report to know if they have been a victim of identity theft. They can see if any loans or credit cards have been opened in their name with stolen personal information.
   Another reason is that credit reports are not always correct. They might contain wrong information or old’ information.
   Before 1971, Americans could not see any of this information. One change, in 2001, permits people to see their FICO score. FICO is short for the Fair Isaac Corporation. That company developed a way to represent credit risk with a number. The number is based on information gathered by credit reporting agencies.
   Fair Isaac says many lenders not just in the United States but around the world use its technology to create credit scores. But lenders are not the only ones interested in these numbers. As of May, the company says it sold ten million credit scores to individuals.
   People with high scores can expect lower interest rates for loans. The idea is that the higher the score, the lower the risk. Paying bills on time and paying off credit-card debt improves credit scores.