Think of Your Credit As a Job

1. Personal Information

This is the easy part-name, social security number, etc. Give it a quick glance to make sure it is correct. If there is more than one spelling of your name, or any other inaccurate information, it is okay provided the correct information is there as well. That is because if someone submits inaccurate information, they leave it on your report in case they resubmit something with the same wrong information at a later date-it just makes it easier to find you.

2. Credit History

Typically, this involves a list of all of your past credit: the name of the creditor, account numbers, etc. It also includes when you opened the account, the kind of credit, whose name the credit is actually in, the total amount, how much you owe, minimum payments, status of the credit, and, of course, how well you have paid the account. If that is all in English, great, but sometimes they use codes and such.

Some terms you might see:

• Internal Collection: They are in the process of trying to collect the debt.

• Charged Off: The creditor tried to collect the debt, could not, and threw in the towel.

• Numbers prefaced by R or I: These numbers range from 1-9, with lower numbers indicating a good payment history.

3. Public Records:Hopefully, this section is empty. It is the part that destroys your credit report-bankruptcies, defaults, and the like.

4. Inquiries:This is simply a list of anyone who is ever asked to see your credit report. Do not worry too much about this: It has a relatively small impact on your credit rating.

Once you understand your credit report, there are four possible courses of action:

1. Fill out the attached form to correct errors.

2. Work on ways to maintain your good rating.

3. Begin building up your nonexistent rating.

4. Tackle the problem of bad credit.

Think of Your Credit as a Job