Credit Summary
This section gives you an overview of your current and past credit status. Here you’ll find the total number of both open and closed accounts in your name, the total of all account balances, whether you have any delinquencies, and the number of inquiries that have been make to your credit file.
Public Record
This information comes from federal district bankruptcy records, wage items, state and county court records, tax liens and monetary judgments, and, in some states, overdue child support records. Public records remain on your credit report for 7-10 years.
Types of Accounts:
• Real estate account - mortgages and other property loans
• Installment account - accounts with set payment schedules
• Revolving accounts - credit cards and finance company accounts
• Collection accounts - Accounts that are seriously overdue and turned over to a collection agent
Credit Inquiries
This section contains the names of those who have obtained a copy of your credit report. Anytime your credit report is retrieved (whether you apply for a loan and the lender requests a copy of your report, or you order a copy of your credit report yourself directly from the credit bureau) an inquiry is added to your report.
There are 2 types of inquiries:
• HARD INQUIRY - these inquiries made by your creditors and lenders with whom you have applied for credit or a loan. These are the only inquiries that are considered when calculating your credit rating and/or credit score. Try to limit the number of hard inquiries placed on your report – lenders often consider a high number of inquiries as a sign of financial difficulty.
• SOFT INQUIRY - these are made when you request your own copy of your report and/or when an employer checks out your credit history.
Inquiries remain on your report for up to 2 years. Look for hard inquiries from companies you are unfamiliar with or did not authorize to check your credit report; these could signify credit fraud.
Account History
This section includes specific information on each account you’ve opened in the past.
• Account number = your account number
• Account type = type of account (Installment, Revolving, Open, etc)
• Acct Status = status of your account (opened or closed)
• Monthly payment = minimum payment due to the Creditor
• Date open = date your account was opened
• Balance = last reported $ amount due on the account
• Terms = # of periodic payments scheduled
• High Balance = highest $ amount or maximum amount on the account
• Limit = maximum amount of credit you are approved for on the account
• Past due = $ amount overdue to date
• Comments = comments you or your creditor recorded regarding the account
• Payment Status = additional comments regarding payment history
CREDIT REPAIR COMPANIES
There are many people out there claiming they can repair your credit for a fee. If you understand that any legitimate credit reporting will stay, while incorrect reporting can be eliminated, then you can do your own credit repair – for free. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) protects consumers from possible scams. We highly recommend clicking on this site below to read what the FTC say regarding Credit Repair companies and what they recommend you do to repair your own credit. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre13.shtm
SUMMARY
This topic is very detailed. Therefore it is recommended that you discuss any issues with an expert. A Mortgage Broker may also help you through the process. So now that you understand how credit scores are determined, your goal is to get your scores over 700!