In brief, the bureaus operate with information supplied to them from the data furnisher. Currently this information is provided each month so a consumer report produced contains 30 day old information. Some data furnishers are electronically connected to the bureaus and others provide the information monthly by sending a magnetic tape. A consumer report is not produced until a request has been made. When a permissible/authorized request is made the bureau's system gathers identifying data, matches that data to the consumer and a report is generated.
This is overly simplified but, a credit score is derived from credit scoring models which are a bunch of questions in mathmatical equation form that your credit report answers. Points are assigned to each answer and your score is calculated.
Now, "low" is a relative term but this is a question asked by just about every score conscious consumer. Most people are under the belief that paying on time is the most important factor in determining the credit score. While paying on time is important it's not the only factor used in determing the credit score. The amount, type of credit and account history are some of the additonal factors that enter into the credit score. Another major factor that affects the score is known as "revolving utilization". This is the amount of a person's credit limits that are currently in use as a balance.
So without seeing your report I can't say for certain why your scores are "low". Remember, there are numerous things that affect the credit score.
There are permissible purposes for consumer reports being used for employment. Under certain court ordered situations a consumer is not required to give his permission for his credit report to be procured but in all other situations the CRA and person or entity requesting the consumer report must follow the FCRA rules.
Some of those rules are that the consumer must give his or her permission prior to the report being procured, that the person or entity requesting the report certifies to the CRA that they will comply with all rules and regulations, that they disclose in writing to the consumer before the report is procured that the report may be obtained for employment purposes and that the consumer has authorized the procurement of the report. The regulation is long, very specific and goes well beyond what's in this post. But if the CRA and person or entity procuring the report don’t follow the regulation to the letter it could mean investigaton and challenge.
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