Ordering a new credit report: A step-by-step tutorial

Note: To skip between illustrations without reading the details, click on the link or button surrounded by a green outline.

Step 1: From Desktop, Click New Report Link

Start from the 1 Source Data Desktop.  Click the New Report link, underneath the Credit header. If you are ordering multiple credit reports at the same time, you may want to batch order your reports instead of ordering them individually.  The batch order process uses the same consumer information form, but the orders are processed differently.

Step 2: Fill in Borrower Information

The next screen will be a consumer information form, similar to the one below: First, you must enter information about the consumer.  Note that there is room for more than one consumer in this form; the second row of consumer data should only be used for a spouse.  The second set of address data is to be used for the borrower's previous address.  You must fill out the fields marked with the required icon, .  Even though not all of the fields are required, we recommend that you fill out as much information as you can. Some of the fields use drop-down lists instead of text areas.  This is to simplify the data entry process.  On the longer lists, such as the street type, you may want to type in the first letter of your entry to make it easier to scroll to the desired answer. The Depend field asks for the number of dependents claimed by the borrower.  The best way to fill out the DOB field is to simply provide the year of birth, not the entire date.  For example, use 1976 instead of 07/04/1976.  The Length field asks for the amount of time that the borrower lived at a particular address; there is no strict guideline on how to type it in. You may have noticed that the ZIP field appears to be in the wrong place.  Yes, in a conventional address, the ZIP code follows the city and state.  With 1 Source Data, if you type the ZIP code first, then the system will automatically complete the City and State fields for you. Administrators and other users permitted to order reports for others will have an additional choicebox to select a user name to order the report under. After you finish filling out the borrower's information, you need to select one or more repositories to pull from.  The selection checkboxes are in the upper right and can be defaulted by your CRA.  You may not see all of the options shown here; contact your CRA for further details or assistance.  If the Zip Selection link appears, you can use it to select the repository most likely to return results based on the given ZIP code.  This option needs to be enabled by your CRA.

Step 3: Choose Your Report  Options
XP	Experian credit bureau
TU	Trans Union credit bureau
EF	Equifax credit bureau
Report	Pull the borrower's credit report from the selected bureaus.
Score	Pull the borrower's credit score model from the selected bureaus.
Fraud	Pull fraud check data from the selected bureaus
Fannie	Request the selected reports through a Fannie Mae Provider, i.e., TransChicago (TC) or Credit Systems Design (CSD).  If you select this option, the returned reports will contain a reissue number that will allow you to import the existing report into Fannie Mae without repulling a new report.  The returned reissue number is submitted to Fannie Mae via MORNETPlus, not 1 Source Data.
Optional:	An optional report is not selected by default, but can be chosen by the user.
Default:	A report designated as a default is selected by default, but can be deselected by the user.
Always:	The selected report will always be ordered.  The user cannot deselect this option
Disabled:	This option is not available.
NOTE: You will be charged for each credit report that you order; additional fees may apply to reports submitted via a Fannie Mae provider.  Contact your CRA for detailed questions on setup and pricing. The Automatic Print checkbox controls whether or not the report is automatically printed when it is ordered.  Changing the value of this option does not change its stored value; use the My Account screen (accessible through the main desktop area) to configure this option. After you fill out all of the required information and which reports to order, press the Order button.

Step 4: Wait for the order to be processed

When an order goes through successfully, you will be shown an Order In Progress screen.  Your order should be completed within 30 seconds and may be longer if you checked the Fannie Mae checkbox. If you're getting a warning instead of this image, go to the warning. Otherwise, continue to the results screen. If you have already ordered a credit report on this consumer, you will see a screen warning you that a credit report has already been pulled. A list of existing reports will also be displayed.  You will have the option of opening one of the existing reports by clicking the open link.  You may also have the option of ordering another credit report by clicking the New Report button.  If you order a new report from this screen, you will go back to the consumer information form; click the Order button again to actually order the new report.  Keep in mind that pulling a New Report will create another inquiry on the borrower and you will incur another charge for the report.  You shouldn't pull a new report on the same borrower if the report is not older than 30 days, unless you are instructed to do so by your CRA.  It takes at least 30 days for the credit repositories to update the information on the credit report.

Step 5: View your Results

The next screen shows the results of your credit requests.  If you selected the Automatic Print option and results were successfully returned, your report will automatically print. In this case, the reports from Experian were retrieved successfully.  However, no record was found for this consumer through Equifax.  A prequal report will automatically print, using the data returned from Experian. From this final screen, you can follow links to view a Web-based (HTML) version of the prequal credit report, or you can view the prequal as a PDF.  The buttons allow you to print the prequal immediately, or to order another new report.  If you press Continue, you will be taken to the standard credit file screen. The New Report link on the desktop is not the only way to order a new credit report.  There are also other ways to order new reports from 1 Source Data.  One example is the button lurking in the illustration above.  Another can be found in the search results screen of the Find Report (accessible through the main desktop) feature.  If the report is not older than 30 days, users can add additional repositories or a co-borrower to the report from the Credit File screen.