Reading through all the different information and line items on your credit report may seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.

At the end of the day, if you’re trying to repair your credit, it’s imperative you know how to read through your credit reports and actually understand what’s on them. This way, when it comes time to disputing errors on your report, you’re armed with the necessary knowledge to get those items removed.

Your credit reports may contain the following data elements:

• Personal information
• Account information
• Credit inquiries
• Public records
• Collections

We’ll go over each one of these below and what to look for.

Personal information

The first thing you should see on any credit report is your personal identifying information.

You know, things like your name, addresses you’ve lived at, phone numbers, birth date, and your social security number.

For example, here’s what my personal information section looks like on my TransUnion credit report:

While it’s easy to overlook this part of your credit report, you definitely want to check the information carefully to make sure it’s accurate. 

Note that you may see various spellings of your name, but this is common as some companies may make mistakes on applications or preliminary offer checks. You’ll also see any nicknames or abbreviations of your name you’ve used, along with maiden and married last names. 

One thing to be aware of is any addresses you don’t recognize, which could be a sign of attempted fraud.

Account information

The next section you’ll see on your credit report is your account information, also called “trade lines”, which are the actual accounts you have open and closed. 

Here’s what it looks like on the TransUnion report, which includes a “ratings key” to signal if you’ve paid these accounts on time, late, or not at all.

Then you will see your accounts listed out one by one, showing your account types, dates opened, credit limits, balances, and payment histories in great detail.

Let’s look at an example from TransUnion so you can really visualize it.

This is showing a high-level snapshot of an account with American Express, with the actual account number right next to it (which is blurred out above).

Then TransUnion provides the following details for this account:

• Date opened
• Responsibility (e.g. individual or joint account)
• Account type (e.g. revolving account)
• Loan type (e.g. credit card)
•  Pay status (e.g. current, 30 days late, etc.)
•  Terms (e.g. paid monthly)

Then below the overview is where you really get the details.

Your credit report will show your entire payment history for every one of your accounts, going all the way back to when you opened the account.

Above you can see what this looks like on the TransUnion report—for every single month, it shows any outstanding balance, any amount that’s past due, and whether you paid on time or were late.

Here’s the truth: this is probably the most important area of your entire credit report to check for fraud. If you see accounts on your report that you didn’t open, it’s important to flag these for yourself, because we’re going to be disputing them in the next chapter of this guide.

We recommend printing out your credit reports and highlighting any issues you’d like to dispute.

Credit inquiries (hard vs. soft)

The next section of your credit report will show any inquiries, which are basically when a lender or other entity requests to pull your credit. 

For example, say you applied for a new credit card recently. Well, in order for the credit card company to make a determination as to whether you’re a worthy borrower, they pulled your credit report to review it and see what kind of borrower you are. 

This is called a hard inquiry. 

And here’s what they look like on Experian’s report. You’ll see Experian will tell you the name of the lender, when the inquiry took place, and when it’s scheduled to fall off your report.

You want to pay attention to any hard inquiries because they can affect your credit score, count as a negative item, and require your consent—so if you spot any on your credit report that you don’t recognize or didn’t authorize, highlight them for later when it’s time to dispute.

We also want to point out that Experian will break out “soft inquiries” on your report as well, like this:

Soft inquiries include things like when an employer does a background check on you, or even when you request a copy of your credit report—which is what is actually shown in the screenshot above: when I requested a copy of my credit report from Experian, it shows up on my Experian report as a soft inquiry.

Here’s what you need to know about soft inquiries: they do NOT count against your credit score, and therefore they cannot be disputed. In other words, you don’t really have to worry about them.

We’ve put together this comparison table to give you a quick breakdown of hard vs soft inquiries if you’re interested:

Hard inquiries

• Counts as a negative item
• Can lower your credit score (1-5 points)
• Occurs when a lender pulls your credit information
• Requires your consent

Soft inquiries

• Does not count as a negative item
• Does not lower your credit score
• Occurs as part of a background check
• Does not require your consent

Public records & collections

The final two sections of your credit report could include public records and/or collections.

Public records

There is only one type of public record that you would now find on your credit report: bankruptcy, which can stay on your credit report for 7-10 years, depending on whether you filed for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. 

Collections

As for collections, this section would list any accounts that are seriously past due. Basically, when you fail to pay back a loan or credit, the creditor may turn your account over to a debt collection agency. 

Collections can significantly damage your credit score and can be really hard to remove from your credit report.