Walk Through Your Credit Report, Section by Section
Open your credit report next to this guide and review it one section at a time: what to look at, and what counts as a red flag. You can get free official reports weekly at AnnualCreditReport.com, or use a monitoring service you already have.
This tool is general education, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Nothing you mark here is stored or sent anywhere.
- 1Personal Information
- 2Accounts
- 3Inquiries
- 4Public Records and Collections
- 5Review
Personal Information
Check your name, current and past addresses, and employers. Errors here can signal a mixed file or identity theft.
Red flags — tap any that you see
Accounts
Go account by account: balances, status, and payment history.
Red flags — tap any that you see
Inquiries
Hard inquiries are tied to credit applications you made. Soft inquiries, such as checking your own credit, do not affect a score.
Red flags — tap any that you see
Public Records and Collections
Review any collection accounts, bankruptcies, or judgments listed on the report.
Red flags — tap any that you see
That is the full review.
You did not mark anything, which is a good sign. Reports change over time, so a periodic review is worth keeping up.
Based on what you marked
Errors in personal information can signal a mixed credit file or identity theft.
Account errors like these are among the most common forms of inaccurate reporting, and each one can be disputed in writing.
An inquiry you did not authorize can signal identity theft, and it can be disputed like any other inaccurate item.
Collection and public-record errors tend to do the most damage, so they are worth documenting carefully.
You marked at least one item worth a closer look. A marked item is not a legal conclusion, but if you dispute it in writing and the error remains, the Fair Credit Reporting Act may provide a legal route.
Your next steps
- Confirm what you saw on your official reports, free every week at AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Apply for a free, confidential case review. The firm reviews the report and, where representation follows, prepares the dispute correspondence.
- Keep dated copies of every report, letter, and response.
- If the error remains after the dispute, the Fair Credit Reporting Act may provide a legal route. That is what the firm reviews.
Nothing you marked here was stored or sent anywhere.
This tool is general education, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship.