Credit History Report – a Step by Step Guide to Checking It
Credit History Report
A credit history report is a compilation of a credit related information about one consumer gathered and presented by a credit reporting agency. The report includes debt payment history, credit history, amount of debt, new accounts, remaining debt balance, unpaid balance, type of credit used, as well as credit inquiries. It is important to note that there are numerous credit bureaus as well as credit reports which gather data about you from different sources and compile credit history reports.
Credit History Report For Free or for a Fee
A credit report can be obtained by a consumer for free or by purchasing the same with a certain credit reporting agency. There are three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, Experian) from which you can obtain free or paid report about your history.
Report Format
Let us assume you already have your credit history report. Different credit reporting agencies have different formats however all reports contain substantially the same information. Make sure to have pen, notebook and preferably a highlighter with you to check the report and make sure there is no incorrect information, which migh adversly affect you.
Credit History Report Reading
Let us begin. Take one credit history report, any one you have on hand. Make sure to highlight the five sections, underline disputed items and encircle the particular entry on that item that makes it false, inaccurate or erroneous.
- Identification section: This is usually the first section in a credit history report and it includes the consumer’s name, social security number, current address, status, date of birth. Make sure that all the information here is accurate and up to date. Credit Bureaus might have sent the wrong credit reports or have outdated information. Therefore it should be ckecked and corrected if necessary.
- Credit History Section: This section contains credit related accounts and transactions. Each transaction will provide the name of the company reporting the information, account number, account name, designation of the account, last activity on the account, how long the account has been reported, and other related information. Pay special attention to this section and make sure no errors are present. Any error here maybe clerical or may be a sign of fraud, identity theft, credit card theft, etc. For example, if a credit account is solely owned by you, but it is designated as joint then it is very important to clarify this matter.
- Collection account section: This section of a credit history report contains any debts reported, transferred or sold to the collection agencies. This section has a huge impact on the credit rating because once an account is transferred to the collection agencies, it means that several demands for payment have already been made before this action was made. Therefore if a debt is included in this section, but no demand from you was made, dispute this fact and inform the offending lender.
- Courthouse section: Otherwise known as public records section where public information regarding debt like bankruptcies, liens, attachment, judgments, and the like is included. Pay special attention to the statue of limitations because in some cases the information that should no longer be reported is still included into the credit history report. For example in case of a bankruptcy that has been reported for more than 10 years before, information can still be present in the report.
- Inquiry section: this section of a credit history report contains soft and hard inquiries, take note that while both can be recorded if it is not more than 2 years passed since them, only hard inquiries reported within 1 year should affect credit scores.
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