Navigating your way through your credit report

Navigating your way through your credit report

If you've ever picked up a legal document and felt like you were reading another language, you'll understand how sometimes reading your credit report can feel the same way. Your credit report, however, is vital to credit repair. Your credit report contains not only your financial history, but other information as well such as other names you have gone by, past addresses you have had and even listings of companies who have looked at your credit. However, if you break down your credit report into its component parts, it becomes immeasurably easier to read.

The first section usually displays identifying information such as your name, other names you have gone by, current and past addresses, and current and past employers.

The next main section is the credit history section. Here you will see top-level listings of all the different accounts you have, as well as ones that have been closed. For each account, you're likely to see your current balance. Also in this section is a listing of companies who made an inquiry into your credit within the last two years.

The bulk of your credit report is the next section, the account history section. Here is where you'll find the details of each of your accounts. These details are very lengthy, but it is important to ensure the information listed here is accurate. In this section you'll find for each account details such as your account number, balance, credit limit/loan amount and, most importantly, payment status and payment history. This section will indicate whether you have had any missed or late payments.

The public records section of your credit report lists severe financial mishaps in your credit history. Items listed here include bankruptcies, late child support payments, tax liens and judgments.

Finally, your credit report may contain a separate credit inquiries section, which lists the lenders who have looked into your credit in order to approve a credit application.

Due to the wide variety of information listed in your report, as well as the fact that your credit report may differ between each of the three credit bureaus of Equifax, TransUnion and Experion, it is important to review your three credit reports each year. When working towards credit repair, it is imperative that you identify any questionable negative information that appears on your credit report as this information is harmful to your credit score.

You can do the work yourself to dispute any information on your credit report that is inaccurate, untimely, misleading, incomplete, ambiguous, unverifiable, biased or unclear to repair your credit. However, rather than doing the credit repair work themselves, many people choose to work with a credit repair company. Credit repair companies will deal with your lenders and creditors as well as with the credit bureaus directly to work towards removing any questionable negative information from your credit report.

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