How Do I Read My Equifax Credit Report?

Reader Question: How do I read my Equifax credit report?

You start at the top and read from left to right. Just kidding. Here are some of the most important sections of your Equifax credit report.

For the benefit of all readers, let me clarify something first. Equifax is one of the three credit reporting companies in the United States. The other two are TransUnion and Experian. So you actually have three reports. Keep this in mind when you review your credit report information for accuracy -- you need to look at all three of them.

Now on to the question at hand. How to read your Equifax report. Here are some of the key items to look at when you read through the information:

Item 1 - Personal Information

At the top of the document, you should see your personal information. This will include your, current address, phone number, social security number, etc. It's not that big a deal if they have your old address or phone number. The main thing here is to make sure your full name and SSN are correct -- if they are wrong, you could have somebody else's credit / financial data on your Equifax report. It's a fairly common mistake.

Item 2 - Public Records

Reading down through the report, you will probably come to the "Public Records" section next. Here you will any legal judgments that have been made against you. This might include court-ordered foreclosure, a bankruptcy filing, a lien of some kind, or any other legal action. If there is something listed here that is clearly not yours, you should dispute it through the Equifax website.

Item 3 - Account History

This is one of the most important sections in your Equifax report because it counts the most toward your overall credit score. This will be a list of credit accounts you have, and it will also include any items that have been sent to collection agencies in the past. What you are looking for here are (A) accounts that clearly are not yours and (B) duplicate entries.

Now, a duplicate entry is not necessarily the same account listed twice. You are looking for the same account with the same status shown twice. For instance, if two different collection agencies are reporting the same item, and they both have a status of "in collection" ... then you have a duplicate entry situation that should be disputed.

Those are the most important things to look at when you read through your Equifax report data. The article below has some more detailed information on this subject.

Related Q&A session:
How to Read Your Credit Report

Hope that helps. Happy New Year.