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How to read and understand your free credit reports
Updated August 9, 2024
This date may not reflect recent changes in individual terms.
Written by: Tim Devaney
If you’re looking for your free credit reports, you’ve come to the right place. Credit Karma offers free credit reports from two of the three major consumer credit bureaus, Equifax and TransUnion.
But if you’ve never seen your credit reports before, you might not understand what you’re looking at. Let’s review what you might find on your credit reports and how that information can impact your credit scores and overall financial health.
- What’s on my credit reports?
- Credit reports vs. credit scores: What’s the difference?
- What are the three credit bureaus?
- How can I find and dispute errors on my credit reports?
- FAQs about free credit reports
What’s on my credit reports?
Your credit reports contain personal information, as well as a record of your overall credit history. Lenders and creditors report account information, such as your payment history, credit inquiries and credit account balances, to the three main consumer credit bureaus. All of that information can then make its way into your credit reports.
Much of what’s found in your credit reports can impact whether you’re approved for a credit card, mortgage, auto loan or other type of loan, along with the rates you’ll get. Even landlords may look at your credit when deciding whether to rent to you.
Let’s take a look at some of the main components of your credit reports.
Image: Portrait-1-DocumentPersonal Information
The credit bureaus use “personally identifiable information,” such as your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and any jobs you’ve held, to ensure you’re really you, but it doesn’t factor into your credit scores. In fact, federal law prohibits credit scores from factoring in personal information such as your race, color, gender, religion, marital status or national origin.
That being said, it’s not necessarily true that the American financial system is unbiased — or that credit lending and credit scoring systems don’t consider factors affected by bias. To learn more about racial justice in lending and initiatives seeking to create change, connect with organizations leading the fight, like the ACLU.
Image: Insights-Document-1Credit account information
Most of the information on your credit reports focuses on your credit accounts. Lenders typically report on each account you’ve opened with them, so you can expect to see information about any credit cards, auto loans, mortgages or other types of loans you’ve opened. Each credit account may include your payment history, your loan amount or credit limit, your current account balance and the age of the account. These account details are all factors that affect your credit scores and can have a big impact on your credit health and financial picture.
Image: Search-1-1Credit inquiries
There are two types of credit inquiries that might show up on your credit reports: hard credit inquiries and soft credit inquiries.
A hard inquiry (also known as a “hard pull” or “hard credit check”) typically occurs when you apply for credit. This happens because a lender or credit card issuer checks your credit as part of their loan decision, after you have authorized them to do so. These checks typically impact your credit scores, especially if you have multiple hard inquiries over a short period of time.
A soft inquiry (also known as a “soft pull” or “soft credit check”) may or may not show up on your credit reports, depending on the bureau. These typically occur when you check your own credit, or when a person or company checks your credit as part of a background check or prequalification. Unlike hard inquiries, soft inquiries do not affect your credit scores. Checking your report on Credit Karma results in a soft inquiry, so it won’t impact your credit.
Image: ClipboardPublic Records
Your credit reports may also contain derogatory marks associated with past financial bumps in the road. These derogatory marks could include bankruptcies, late payments, and delinquent accounts that have been sent to collections.
These public records can cause long-term damage to your credit scores, so it’s important to understand how to deal with derogatory marks.
Credit reports vs. credit scores: What’s the difference?
Each credit report has a credit score associated with it (though one isn’t necessarily provided to you with the other). Your credit score is a three-digit number based on the information in your report.
Most credit scores range from 300 to 850. Where your score falls in this range can determine how likely you are to be approved by a lender, and whether you’ll qualify for the best rates and terms. It’s important to keep in mind that credit scores can be different depending on the credit bureau and if VantageScore® or FICO® models are being used.
What are the three credit bureaus?
The three main consumer credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. A credit bureau is a company that collects and stores information about you and your financial accounts and history, often reported directly by lenders, and then uses this information to create your credit reports and credit scores. Credit Karma allows you to see reports from both Equifax and TransUnion for free and the information on those reports reflects what has been provided to Credit Karma by the bureaus.
Since lenders are not required to report to all three major credit bureaus, you might find information about certain accounts on one credit report, but not others. Additionally, when lenders report to multiple bureaus they may report that information at different times, so it’ is perfectly normal to observe some minor differences between your reports.
How can I find and dispute errors on my credit reports?
If you notice any big discrepancies between your credit reports, there might be an error. There are a number of ways to find and dispute these errors. Let’s take a look at a few.
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If we notice any important changes on your Equifax or TransUnion credit report, we’ll send an alert so you can review the changes for suspicious activity. If you don’t recognize the information and think it might be associated with an error or identity theft, you can file a dispute.
Image: Nav-Yes_SunsetHow to dispute errors on your TransUnion credit report with Credit Karma’s Direct Dispute™ feature
Credit Karma’s Direct Dispute™ tool makes it easy to file a dispute directly with TransUnion. If you come across an error on your TransUnion report, you can submit a dispute without leaving Credit Karma.
Just scroll to the bottom of the account where you found the mistake and click the box labeled “Dispute an Error.” You’ll be asked to verify some information before clicking “Review and Submit.”
You can generally expect TransUnion to review your claim within 30 days. But keep in mind that it may take a little longer for the changes to show up on your credit reports.
Image: Nav-YesHow to dispute errors on your Equifax credit report
If you spot an error on your Equifax credit report, you’ll have to file your dispute directly with Equifax.
Start by reviewing your free report from Equifax on Credit Karma. If you come across an error, scroll down to the bottom of the account in question and click “Go to Equifax.” You’ll have a chance to review your dispute before submitting it to Equifax.
FAQs about free credit reports
Credit Karma partners with Equifax and TransUnion to provide free credit reports from those two bureaus. You can check them as often as you like with no impact on your credit scores and any updated information will appear as soon as it is provided by the bureaus. You can also use annualcreditcreport.com to view your reports from all three bureaus, including Experian.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act, also known as FCRA, is an important law that gives you the right to know the information that the credit bureaus keep on you, how that information informs your credit scores, and other consumer rights and protections. Under the FCRA you have the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information on your credit reports. In most cases, the credit bureau must investigate your case and correct or remove any inaccuracies within 30 days.
No one credit report is more accurate than the others. Your TransUnion credit report might contain information that your Equifax credit report doesn’t, or vice versa. This is partly because lenders are not required to report your information to all three credit bureaus. In some cases, they may only report to one bureau and not the others, or they may report information at different times. For this reason, it’s a good idea to review your credit reports on a regular basis so that you can be aware of any discrepancies.
Check out your free credit reports.