You have received your credit report, but do you know how to read your credit report? Being able to know how to read your report is very important if you are at all concerned about your credit rating and where it is going and how it affects you.
Knowing how to read the report and read it correctly includes looking at many different number and accounts and trying to figure out what they mean and if and how they are related to one another and your overall credit score.
There are three main credit agencies and you should be able to know how to read your credit report from each of them.
Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax are the three main ones.
You should obtain a report from each of these at least once a year.
But just as important has obtaining them is knowing how to understand your credit statement from each of them as well.
There is information on each of them to get you started online.
There tends to be different information at least in regards to the accounts on each of them.
Different creditors use different agencies to report to.
This is the first step in how to read your credit report, knowing which agencies report which accounts.
This will help you avoid thinking that an account is paid off if it is really not.
Included in how to read your report are four different sections that all reports should have.
These include identifying information, credit history, public records and inquiries.
Of course the identifying information is what is what identifies you and is unique to you and should always be correct.
Social security numbers are usually the main identifying factor, because it is unique to each person.
Identifying information also includes you driver's license number, address and telephone number as well.
Being able to know how to understand your credit statement and interpret it properly will help you find this information faster and verify that you are looking at the correct report to start with.
Another part of your report is the history of your credit.
This includes different accounts that you have held and if there are any balances left and what they are.
These are very important and must be verified by account numbers.
This part of the report is very important in knowing how to interpret your credit statement because if you do know how you will know better how to dispute any mistakes.
Public records are the part that will contain anything regarding criminal records of any kind if you have any.
This not only can include arrests but any judgments made against you for non-payments.
You should not have to worry about how to read this part of it, since if you are lucky it should not have anything listed there.
Of course one more part that you should know how to read is the inquiries part of the report.
This part will list anyone who has looked at your report and how many times they have, including yourself.
This will include any time you have applied for a loan or credit as well.
Too many can be a bad thing, so be careful about this part.
Being able to know how to read your credit card report is invaluable and can be very helpful to you in the end.
Knowing how to reach individual part of it is even more invaluable.
When you know how to comprehend your credit rating you should be well on your way to making sure your credit is where it's supposed to be.