How to Read and Understand Your Credit Report

A no-nonsense guide to reading and understanding credit reports and scores.

So your mortgage broker instructed you to obtain a copy of your credit report in order to pre-qualify for a mortgage. According to him, the ideas is to get an idea of what your credit looks like and possibly clean up mistakes the report might have. So you paid the $30 and got your report. Bu now you are faced with tons of numbers, abbreviations and terms you've never heard of. Charge-offs, Trade lines, account review inquiries - what does it all mean?

First of all, there are three big credit-reporters in the US: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. Make sure you order a copy of your credit report and review it for any errors.