Credit Reports
Credit Reports
There are various sections to a credit report. The content is relatively consistent amongst bureaus. It is best to understand each section when reviewing a credit report. Below is a generalized description of what a personal credit report contains (wording may differ amongst credit reporting agencies, but the general idea is the same, not all items are present on credit reports from ALL credit reporting agencies):
Personal Information
This section contains your personal data:
1. Name
2. Address and any past addresses (usually within 2 years)
3. Employer(s) – misc information
4. Income
5. Birthday – DOB
6. Social Security Number – 9 digit number
Public Records
This section contains all public records on your file, which would include bankruptcies, tax liens, civil judgements, suits and foreclosures. In some cases, this section will include collection items or collection items will have its own separate section. For each public record, you will find:
1. Filing date – i.e. the date you filed for bankruptcy, the date the civil judgement was filed with the court
2. Status date – this is the date that the government last reported on this particular public record – this date could be referred to as the date reported/verified or the status date.
3. Type of public record – i.e. bankruptcy, tax lien
4. Source – the institution that is reporting, usually courts.
5. Amount – this is the amount in question
6. Date Paid/Released – the date the amount was paid
7. Location of Court
8. Type of Public Record in terms of the person responsible – individual bankruptcy, joint bankruptcy
9. Plaintiff and Attorney involved