Understanding Credit Reports

Each credit report you receive will be broken down into sections. Personal information, Accounts Summary, Real Estate and Mortgage Accounts, Revolving Accounts, Installment Accounts, Collection and Other Accounts, Public Records, Credit Inquiries, and Creditor Contact Information.

Understanding each section is key to learning to read your credit reports. Since all reports are arranged differently, you will need to read the “credit report key” located on every credit report type to determine what information is reporting for each and every account on the credit report.

There has been a lot of confusion over credit reports throughout the years. Since there are three credit reporting agencies, you will want to make sure you have a copy of each report from Equifax, Experian , and TransUnion. Many of the websites you can order reports and monitoring services for each bureau, also allow you to purchase a 3 in 1 credit report. This means you will see each report side by side for convenience. This is good, because you can easily compare whats on each report.