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The Credit Repair Attorneys of Smith & Garg will fix your credit right!

Reading a Credit Report

Once you obtain a credit report, how can you understand what is in it? It is good to remember that CRAs (credit reporting agencies) simply regurgitate and do not verify the information provided to them by creditors. The CRAs then publish this information in different formats. Most often a credit “score” accompanies a report. This number represents a composite of the borrowers “financial footprint.” One’s financial footprint includes payment history, amounts borrowed, employment, address, saving ability, etc. Probably the most notable score is the FICO score. FICO stands for Fair-Isaacs Corporation, which has been around for years. Your FICO score can change daily as creditors report your borrowing activities often. The method of creating a FICO score is not apparent and is a closely guarded secret by the CRAs, so it is difficult to know exactly how your score is calculated.

There are generally four sections to a credit report: credit history, inquiries, identifying information and public records. Your credit history is a listing of your accounts or “trade lines.” Trade lines include the name of the creditor, an abbreviated account number, the date the account was opened, the type of account, outstanding balances, highest balance, credit limit, payment history, account status, and if the account is an individual or joint account. This section will also include accounts that have been paid or otherwise closed. Inquiries are requests about your credit.

Some abbreviations in the inquiry section and other sections of your credit report may include the following:

I -	Individual
U -	Undesignated
J -	Joint
A -	Authorized User
M -	Maker
T -	Terminated
C -	Co-maker/Co-signer
S -	Shared
O -	Open (entire balance due each month)
R -	Revolving (amount due can change each month)
I -	Installment (fixed amount due each month)
0 -	Approved, but account is too new to rate or not yet used
1 -	Paid as agreed
2 -	30 or more days past due
3 -	60 or more days past due
4 -	90 or more days past due
5 -	120 or more days past due or is a collection account
7 -	Making regular payments under a wage earner plan or other arrangement
8 -	Repossession
9 -	Charged off account

Inquiries list all of the entities that have asked about your credit. There are two types of inquiries, hard and soft. Hard inquiries happen when you ask for credit, for example, when you fill out a loan application. Soft inquires happen when your creditors choose to monitor your credit or when credit card companies check your credit in order to send out promotional or “pre-approved” correspondence.

Identifying information includes name, address, social security number, and employer. It is not unusual for this information to be either incorrect or stale, since people often move around.

Public records include financial data concerning a bankruptcy, a judgment, or a tax lien. If you have a public record you have had problems in the past with your credit. There are no entries in this section that refer to any criminal records, just financial ones.

In most credit reports there is a “remarks” section that may go into further detail regarding the status of your account or the payment history. Some CRAs report in more detail than others.

Last activity denotes the last time that you made a payment on the account.

There may also be a section named “collection accounts.” These entries indicate any account that has been sent to collection because of non-payment. This section may also include the name of the current account owner, the current reported balance and account status.

As you can see, it can be somewhat confusing to attempt to read a credit report. The credit repair lawyers at Smith & Garg are able to cut through the fog for you and explain the report to you in understandable language and counsel you regarding the impact of the individual entries on your credit score.

Contact the Credit Repair Attorneys at Smith & Garg today to get started!