Reading a credit report

Whenever you apply for new credit, whether it's a credit card, a loan or the lease agreement that lets you rent an apartment, the potential creditor can check your credit report. But what they see isn't a secret. You can request a copy of your credit report too.

The FACT Act

A new law allows you to receive your credit reports for free every year. The FACT Act allows you to request a free copy of your credit report from each of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies, or CRAs — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — each year. You can obtain all three reports at once, or you can spread them out over the year. Since the same information tends to show up on all three, staggering your requests means you may be in a better position to quickly identify any potential issues, such as unauthorized activity, incorrect personal information, or incorrect balances, and begin to resolve them.

What the report says

Each credit report begins with your name, current and previous addresses, Social Security number, year of birth, current and previous employers, and your spouse's name. Any public records concerning you, including bankruptcies, tax liens, monetary judgments or child support you haven't paid, will also be included.

While not all credit reports look alike, and those that are printed and sent by mail look different from the online versions, all reports from the three national credit bureaus contain the same basic information.

Click here to look at parts of a sample credit report.