How to Read an Equifax Credit Report

The Carnival Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) necessitates each of the Nationwide Consumer Reporting organisations (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian) to supply you with one free credit report every 12 calendar months per your request. This agency that you are entitled to three free credit reports per year, if you hold it necessary. You can stagger the petitions or order all of them at the same time.

Each of the National Consumer Credit Reporting bureaus have got a alone credit report format, but in kernel they supply you with the same information. When you have got got your free Equifax credit report usage the following guidelines to read your report:

Personal Information

This subdivision will item your personal information: Name, Sociable Security Number (SSN), day of the month of birth, any former names, death notice information, current address, former addresses, any other designation numbers that you may have, current employer and former employers.

You will also happen information about any fraud alarms that you may have against your credit report.

Account Information Summary

You’ll happen a listing of all your accounts here. Additional information will include account type, account number, day of the month account was opened, account balance, any past owed amount, account status and credit limit.

Inquiries

Any enquiries against your credit data file will be listed in this section. This subdivision is divided into two subcategories: (a) Inquiries that show to companies and may impact your credit score. (b) Inquiries that make not expose to companies and make not impact your credit score.

“Inquiries that show to companies and may impact your credit score”
These are enquiries by possible creditors who are assessing whether to widen you a line of credit or not. Your credit score will be minimally affected and therefore these enquiries should not be of major concern, unless there are some reddish flags. The name of the company that requested the information and the day of the month they requested it will be listed.

“Inquiries that make not expose to companies and make not impact your credit score”
Unlike the former enquiries – these make not “hurt” your credit score. They include enquiries for pre-approved credit lines, insurance, or account reappraisals by existing creditors. The name of the company that requested the information, the day of the month they requested it and the type of enquiry will be listed.

Collections

Any accounts that have got gone to aggregations will be listed here along with the name of the creditor, day of the month reported, creditor type, your account number, original amount, days of the month of delinquency, outstanding balance and status information.

Public Records

Bankruptcies, liens or judgements information from federal, state or county tribunal records will be listed here. Each public record will bespeak the type of record, lawsuit number, amount in default and any relevant information associated with that peculiar case.

You may also happen the following credit report terms helpful:
CURR ACCT – Account is current in payments and in good standing. cur WAS 30-2 – Account is current was 30 years late twice. PAID – Account have been paid off and have a $0 balance and is inactive. CHARGEOFF – Unpaid balance on account was reported as a loss by creditor and the creditor is no longer seeking reimbursement. collect – Account is severely delinquent and assigned to collections. FORECLOS – Property was foreclosed. BKLIQREQ – Debt was forgiven owed to Chapter 7, 11 or 13. DELINQ 60 – Account is 60 years delinquent. INACTIVE – Account is inactive.

Sample Equifax credit report