Today we look at information on understanding your credit report that can help you read and understand the information found on your personal credit report. In our last post, we looked at the various parts of a credit report. Now it is time to look at each of those parts in more detail.
The first area we spoke about was the personal information on your credit report. Be sure this is all accurate. Typically it is located at the top of the report. Make sure your social security number is correct. Also, take note of your address and address history. If you are a senior or a junior, or have the same name as a relative, you will want to make sure your information is reflected here and not theirs.
If addresses show up that you don’t recognize, you need to look into that immediately.
The payment history section is the bulk of your credit report. This section is critical to understanding your credit report. This is where you are going to find a listing of your current and past credit trade lines. This includes mortgages, credit cards, installment loans, student loans and any other type of loan that has been reported to the credit bureaus. Depending on where your report was pulled from, these will be listed with the most recent trade lines at the top, and the oldest at the bottom. Often times this will also be split up into sections, with current accounts, closed accounts and derogatory accounts each listed in a different section.
Each line item will have the same general information. You will see the creditors name, when you opened the account, when the last activity was reported, if it is closed or open, the maximum credit that was extended to you on the account, the current balance, how much your payments are each month, if you are behind and by how much and finally a two year history of your payments.
The history of your payments is easy to read once you know how. If everything is current, you will see that noted. If you have been late, however, your late payments are noted in 30 day increments. You will see numbers such as 30, 60, 90, 120 and 120+. Each of these represents how late your payment is. If you make no payments on a card for 3 months, you will see the first month showing as a 30, the second as a 60, and the third as a 90.
If you miss a payment, but then make the next months payment, staying one month behind, it will show as 30, 30, 30 for as long as you are behind on a payment. This is called a rolling 30 day late, meaning that you are 30 days late, and have been 30 days late, but you are making payments each month still.
When looking over this section, ensure everything is accurate. If you see accounts that are not yours, or other inaccurate information, be sure to contact the bureaus about it.
The next section is usually the public records section. This is where you will find information on bankruptcies, whether a chapter 7, 11 or 13. You will also see tax liens and other liens in this section. You will find the date filed, and if a bankruptcy, the dismissal date if it has been dismissed. Just because your bankruptcy has been dismissed does not mean it comes off your credit report!
Finally, you should see a section that lists the credit inquiries you have. This shows you who has pulled your credit and when. You should also inspect this area of your report, as if you have many inquiries by groups you don’t know, you may want to look into it.
In a nutshell, this information should help you in understanding your credit report. For more information on reading and understanding your credit report, take a look at some of our other posts:
Sample credit report
