You have your credit report in front of you and you want to know how to read it. Well you’ve come to the right place to learn how to read credit report. We’ll go over each step.

Did you know that the typical credit report doesn’t come with your credit score?
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How To Read Credit Report
Your credit report is divided into 4-6 sections depending on which credit bureau you received it from: Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. These are the big three credit bureaus who collect all the information about you including what credit cards you have, how many lines of credit you have open, what kinds of loans you have or have open, and also any revolving debt you have had in the past or currently have right now. Your credit report is usually broken down by these sections:

1. Your personal information such as your name and addresses. This also lists any previous addresses you might have had in the past. Depending on which credit bureau, you may also have your employment information in this section.

2. Your credit history and all the open lines of credit under your name. This includes loans, car loans, home loans, mortgages, etc. And it also includes credit cards that you have now or have closed in the past. This section will show approximately what date you opened the credit card or started the loan.

Make sure that you check your credit score as well to see what banks and lenders get to see.

3. Depending on the credit bureau, these may be ordered differently. But the next section has all your negative information and bankruptcies. If you have declared bankruptcy before in the past 10 years, it will show up in this section. After 10 years, your bankruptcy information drops from your credit report. If you have any late payments on bills, it may also show up in this section.

4. The next section of your credit report is inquiries made on your credit report. Most reports will break down the inquiries that only you can see and the inquiries that banks and lenders can see. For example, if you check your credit report yourself, you will only be able to see that you checked it yourself. Banks and lenders will not know that you checked it yourself. This is important to separate because it makes it so your credit score does not hurt or get affected if you check your credit report yourself.
Depending on which credit bureau you get your credit report from, any one of the sections above can be broken down into 2 more sections, hence, your credit report is divided in to 4-6 sections.

You do not get your credit score for free with most of these places that offer you a free credit report. Your credit report and credit score are two different things. Your credit score is a number from 300-850 that lenders look at to assess your risk. They use this number to determine if you get approved for loans and what kinds of interest rates you can get. The higher the credit score, the better interest rate you have available to you.

Click here to get your free credit score without having to wait.