Guide
Your score is the headline. Your report is the story. This guide walks through it section by section.
Guide 01
Most people only ever look at their score. The score matters — but the report is where the damage lives, and the report is what you can actually fix. Here's how we read one.
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion each keep their own file on you, and they are rarely identical. A collection might show on two and not the third. An error might live on one. Pull all three free at AnnualCreditReport.com before you judge where you stand.
Wrong names, old addresses, an employer you never worked for — these look harmless, but they can signal a mixed file, where somebody else's accounts are bleeding into your report. Flag everything that isn't you.
For each account, look at four things: the status (open, closed, charged off), the payment history (every late mark is dated), the balance versus the limit (that's your utilization), and whether you recognize the account at all. An account you don't recognize is never a small thing — it's either an error or fraud, and both need action.
Collections and charge-offs: note the original creditor, the amount, and the date of first delinquency. That date starts the seven-year clock — most negative items must age off seven years from it, no matter how many times the debt gets resold.
Soft inquiries don't hurt you. Hard inquiries — from applications — can. You should recognize every hard inquiry on your report. Ones you don't recognize deserve a dispute and a fraud check.
Bankruptcies live here. Check the type, the filing date, and the discharge status for accuracy. Errors in public records are more common than people think.
When you're done, you should have a marked-up report and a list of everything questionable. That list is your dispute list — it's exactly where professional credit repair starts. If reading your report feels like reading a foreign language, that's what our free analysis is for.