How to decode your credit report
As you may already know, there are three major credit reporting agencies (CRA’s) otherwise known as the credit bureaus. The big three are TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. The consumer CRA’s business is collecting, storing and reporting data they have gathered about a consumers personal credit profile.
This information is used to create your credit report which is then used by lenders to determine if they will grant you the credit applied for. The information in your credit report is gathered from three sources; 1st is you 2nd are your creditors and the 3rd is from public records.
You provide the following information on yourself when you apply for credit:
Your full name
Date of birth
Social security number
Current address, previous addresses
Phone numbers
Employment history
Your creditors and those you have applied for credit with usually will provide the following information on your credit report:
The creditors names
Contact information
What type of account you hold with the lender
Account number (usually masked)
Payment history
Any negative information such as late payments, collections, and so on.
Then there is the public records section which is data usually gathered by a third party like Lexus Nexus from court records.
Public records data is always negative which include judgments, child support, liens, bankruptcies, and foreclosures.
Now that you know the information you will find on your credit report, here is some of the coding used within your report.
There are differences of responsibility on each type of account:
I = Individual or B= Borrower this means you are solely responsible for the debt
J = Joint or C= Co Borrower the responsibility on this account is shared with another
A = Authorized User this gives you access to the account but you are not liable for the debt but if the account is paid poorly or carries high balances this will negatively affect your credit report.
These are the main types of credit accounts that you can have:
I = Installment which will be an auto or personal type of loan with a first and last payment date predetermined.
R= these are open ended accounts, usually credit cards which can have the biggest impact on your credit report negatively and adding positive credit as well.
O= Open ended which is line of credit that is open with no scheduled end date
M= Mortgage account which is a loan for a home, possibly a RV or boat.
The way an account payment status will show up based on the current standing will be as follows:
0- Too new to rate
1- Current- This is always what you are looking to maintain
2- 30-59 days past due
3- 60- 89 days past due
4- 90-119 days past due
5- 120-179 days past
6- 180 days or more past due usually a collection account
7- Wage earner plan or chapter 13 bankruptcy
8- Repossession
9- Charged off to bad debt
There are going to be differences in credit reports you get, but this will cover the main basis. Each of your credit reports may be different because not every creditor reports to every credit bureau plus the interpretation of the data may also be different.
