The information in your free annual credit report is divided into several parts. Each of the agencies has its own way of presenting or sequencing the information.
Report Number – The first thing you will see is your name, report number, and the date you requested your report. This number is important because if you have to dispute information in your report, you need to provide the Report Number to the agency you got the report from.
Potentially Negative Items – This section contains information that creditors may view less favorably. Late payments, claims, liens, court judgments or bankruptcy declarations will appear on this section.
Check this section for the following:
• Closed accounts reported as still open,
• Incorrect account information – wrong balance, up-to-date payments reported as late, wrong account number,
• Debts your spouse incurred prior to your marriage,
• Bankruptcies older than ten years,
• Lawsuits, paid tax liens, or judgments older than seven years,
• Collections listed twice. If you had a loan that was turned over to a collection agency, that may appear twice in your report – once with your creditor, and once with the collection agency. Loan collections should only be listed once on the report.
• Negative information that is not yours.
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Accounts in Good Standing – This section lists all accounts that have a positive status and would present a favorable picture to creditors.
Review this section for:
• Accounts that are up to date with payments but are not listed,
• Accounts that do not belong to you.
Requests for Your Credit History – There are two types of inquiries – those that arise from a transaction initiated by you (hard inquiries), and those you did not initiate (soft inquiries). Hard inquiries are requests made after applications for credit such as a loan, a credit card, housing, or insurance. Soft inquiries are requests from lenders who requested your report prior to sending you a preapproved offer, job-related requests, and your own requests for your credit report.
Double check this section for the following:
• Credit inquiries from companies whose products you tried while comparison shopping,
• Credit inquiries from parties unfamiliar to you.
Personal Information – This section contains your name, address, date of birth, spouse, employer, and Social Security Number.
Review this section for the following:
• Names that aren’t yours (aside from the misspelling of your name),
• Social Security Numbers that don’t belong to you,
• Incorrect birth date,
• Addresses where you have never lived.
Comments
Louise February 26, 2009 02:41:33 PM 2:41 PM Thanks for the info. It is very helpful and makes it easier to go through bunch of numbers and so much info that you see once you get your credit report.
Kelly March 6, 2009 09:44:49 PM 9:44 PM Without some instructions or tips it is really hard to read the credit report. You have provided nice tips and everything is so clear and step by step. Thank you for that. Because we can't understand many things from the report.
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