How to Read an Equifax Credit Report

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the
Nationwide Consumer Reporting organizations (Equifax, TransUnion
and Experian) to provide you with one free credit report every
12 months per your request. This means that you are entitled to
three free credit reports per year, if you deem it necessary.
You can stagger the requests or order all of them at the same
time.

Each of the National Consumer Credit Reporting bureaus have a
unique credit report format, but in essence they provide you
with the same information. When you receive your free Equifax
credit report use the following guidelines to read your
report:

Personal Information

This section will detail your personal information: Name, Social
Security Number (SSN), date of birth, any former names, death
notice information, current address, previous addresses, any
other identification numbers that you may have, current employer
and previous employers.

You will also find information about any fraud alerts that you
may have against your credit report.

Account Information Summary

You'll find a list of all your accounts here. Additional
information will include account type, account number, date
account was opened, account balance, any past due amount,
account status and credit limit.

Inquiries

Any inquiries against your credit file will be listed in this
section. This section is divided into two subcategories: (a)
Inquiries that display to companies and may impact your credit
score. (b) Inquiries that do not display to companies and do not
impact your credit score.

Inquiries that display to companies and may impact your credit
score These are inquiries by potential creditors who are
assessing whether to extend you a line of credit or not. Your
credit score will be minimally affected and therefore these
inquiries should not be of major concern, unless there are some
red flags. The name of the company that requested the
information and the date they requested it will be listed.

Inquiries that do not display to companies and do not impact
your credit score Unlike the previous inquiries - these do not
hurt your credit score. They include inquiries for
pre-approved credit lines, insurance, or account reviews by
existing creditors. The name of the company that requested the
information, the date they requested it and the type of inquiry
will be listed.

Collections

Any accounts that have gone to collections will be listed here
along with the name of the creditor, date reported, creditor
type, your account number, original amount, dates of
delinquency, outstanding balance and status information.

Public Records

Bankruptcies, liens or judgments information from federal, state
or county court records will be listed here. Each public record
will indicate the type of record, case number, amount in default
and any relevant information associated with that particular
case.

You may also find the following credit report terms helpful:

CURR ACCT - Account is current in payments and in good
standing.

CUR WAS 30-2 - Account is current was 30 days late twice.

PAID - Account has been paid off and has a $0 balance and is
inactive.

CHARGEOFF - Unpaid balance on account was reported as a loss
by creditor and the creditor is no longer seeking reimbursement.

COLLECT - Account is severely delinquent and assigned to
collections.

FORECLOS - Property was foreclosed.

BKLIQREQ - Debt was forgiven due to Chapter 7, 11 or 13.

DELINQ 60 - Account is 60 days delinquent.

INACTIVE - Account is inactive.

Sample Equifax credit report