.jpg)
Equifax is one of the three major credit bureaus in America and lists reports from numerous creditors regarding the creditworthiness of a consumer. If you have reason to dispute a charge, or if you haven’t checked your credit report for quite some time, you may find an Equifax credit report to be very advantageous. For one thing, you get to request a copy of this credit report for free. You get three free credit reports per year, one from each major credit bureau.
Besides the fact that it’s free, you can also benefit from reading this report as it provides detailed information about your credit history. How do you go about reading an Equifax credit report? An Equifax credit report starts by listing your full name, spouse’s name, current and previous addresses and current and former employers. It is a good idea to review this information in case anything is inaccurate or incorrectly reported.
The next section in the Equifax credit report is the public records section. This includes major debts such as tax liens, civil judgments and bankruptcies. These items would send an immediately flag to any creditor interested in working with you. The next item on the list would be accounts in collection. This includes all accounts that are late (collections), as well as defaulted loans, foreclosures and charge offs.
After these negative reports, any current accounts you have will be listed in the next section. There may also be accounts listed that were closed under favorable conditions. These listings on the Equifax credit report will be identified as the trade lines section. They might also contain information relating to payment history, high credit limits and other balances. Not all of this information is necessarily considered favorable, depending on what you as the consumer are applying for.
The next section on the Equifax credit report is the credit inquiries section. This is the section that reports all credit inquiries, which include inquiries run by creditors as well as your own requests. This section will list all inquiries that have happened within the last 24 months. The final section includes any personal statements by the consumer that dispute unpaid items on the credit report. Every consumer has the right to attach a personal statement in defense of an unpaid debt.
It is a good idea to check your Equifax credit report at least once a year to investigate fraud or other crediting errors.