How to read your credit report (all three bureaus)

You can get free reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion at AnnualCreditReport.com, the only site authorized by federal law to fill orders for free annual reports. Free weekly access is now permanent (FTC). Reports don't include scores; they include the data scores are built from.

Beyond the free reports at AnnualCreditReport.com, the FCRA gives you additional free disclosures in specific situations (15 U.S.C. § 1681j):

• After adverse action. If you're denied credit, insurance, or employment, or offered worse terms because of a report, you can get a free copy from the bureau that supplied it if you ask within 60 days of the notice.
• Once a year in certain circumstances: if you're unemployed and plan to look for work within 60 days, if you receive public welfare assistance, or if you believe your file contains inaccurate information because of fraud.
• With a fraud alert. Placing a fraud alert also entitles you to free disclosures from the bureaus (§ 1681c-1).

• Personal information: names, addresses, employers, date of birth, partial SSN. Check for anything that isn't yours.
• Accounts (tradelines): each credit card, loan, or line with its status, balance, limit, payment history, and dates.
• Collections: debts placed with or sold to a collection agency.
• Public records: bankruptcies can appear; most civil judgments and tax liens no longer appear on reports from the three nationwide bureaus.
• Inquiries: hard inquiries from applications, and soft inquiries only you can see.
• Consumer statements: any statement you've added about a dispute.

Each bureau formats reports differently, but the same kinds of information show up on all of them:

The dispute notation in the last row comes from the furnisher's duty to flag information you've disputed with it (15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a)(3)). Once a dispute is resolved, check that the notation still makes sense.

• Accounts you don't recognize
• Wrong balances, limits, or payment statuses
• Late payments you believe were on time
• Duplicate accounts or collections
• Wrong dates, especially the date of first delinquency
• Debts that should have aged off
• Hard inquiries you didn't authorize

Compare all three reports. An error may appear at one bureau and not the others (why reports differ).

1. 1Download all three reports on the same day so you're comparing the same moment in time. Save them as PDFs with the date in the file name.
2. 2Read personal information first. Flag names, addresses, or employers you don't recognize.
3. 3Go account by account with your own statements next to you: status, balance, limit, the month-by-month grid, and dates.
4. 4Scan collections and public records for duplicates, wrong amounts, or items that should have aged off.
5. 5Check inquiries against applications you remember.
6. 6Write a short list: bureau, account, what's wrong, and what proof you have. That list becomes your dispute letter.

Repeat every few months, and before any big application. Comparing saved copies over time makes it easy to see exactly what changed.

Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion aren't the only consumer reporting companies. Specialty companies compile reports used for things like tenant screening, checking-account applications, insurance, and employment. You have the right to request your file from many of them, and to dispute errors in them under the same FCRA rules. The CFPB keeps a list of consumer reporting companies with instructions for requesting each report.

Write it down with the bureau, the account, and what's wrong, gather proof, and follow the dispute guide. If you see a cluster of someone else's information, read about mixed files. If you see accounts or inquiries you never applied for, follow the identity theft steps.