Understanding Your Credit - 4 Things You Must Know

Understanding your credit report can be a daunting task for many people, especially if they are reading one for the first time. Luckily, reports can easily be understood if you know a few key factors that affect your reports.

First

First, check to make sure any identifying information on your report matches you. This will usually include mailing addresses, phone numbers, places of employment, etc. Slight misspellings or variations are not uncommon and do not affect your score. However, if there is a record of you that grossly does not match, then contact the credit reporting bureau immediately.

Second

The second important item to consider when understanding your report is the credit summary section. This will usually give a tally of the number of revolving accounts you have open, the number of real estate accounts, the number of delinquent accounts, etc. In addition, this section will usually include an amount for your total amount of debt.

Third

The next piece of the report to consider when understanding your report is the individual account history. This section will detail the length of time you have had the account open, the type of account, the credit limit or loan amount, and any payment history. The section will also report any payments that were made late over the company's typical grace period. If you have a lot of accounts that are showing delinquent payments, this will affect your score.

Fourth

Another section in your bureau report is the public records section. This details any tax liens, public judgments, or other possibly derogatory financial settlements against you. However, one thing to remember when understanding your report is that these judgments are only kept on record of your report for seven to ten years. Only severe financial items are included in this section, not minor arrests or other law enforcement involvement.

The final section in your report details the number of inquiries of you record. One important thing to remember when understanding your report is that lenders only see "hard" hits against your credit. "Soft" hits will be included in your copy of the bureau report, but in no other one. Before you apply for any sort of credit line, be sure to ask the

lender whether or not their request of your report is considered a hard or soft hit. Too many hard style credit report inquiries can negatively impact your score and affect your ability to purchase a home or a car loan.

If you want to get the best credit ever, get approved for your dream home, car and stop collectors from harassing you on a daily bases, then it’s time to take action by signing up for you free Self Credit Repair E-Class by Clicking Here .Once you sign up, you will receive two free gifts: 1-Special Report on Stopping Debt Collectors. 2. Listen to the First Chapter of the Audio Book – Hidden Credit Repair Secrets. Mark Clayborne is Amazon’s best-selling author of “Hidden Credit Repair Secrets” and a credit repair expert with 10 years of experience assisting consumers with credit related issues. He is also the radio host of the show “Who Else Wants Better Credit” on blog talk radio every Tuesday at 7:30PM-PST.