Credit Education
What's actually on your credit report
A credit score isn't one mysterious number. It's a calculation built from a report that lists your accounts, your payment history and your balances, and you're entitled to see that report yourself.
Chapter 01
INCREASE YOUR CREDIT SCORE BY DISCOVERING HOW TO RECOVER FROM CREDIT AND DEBT PROBLEMS
Most people never look at what's actually feeding their score. They see the number on an app and stop there. But the number comes from a report, and the report is made of specific entries: which accounts are open, how long you've had them, whether payments came in on time, and how much of your available credit is in use.
Understanding those entries is the first real step toward recovering from credit and debt problems, because you can't fix what you can't see. That's why we start there with anyone who calls, before any talk of a program.
Statement paper fanned across a desk with a pen resting on it
FICO and the three bureaus
FICO is the chief credit rating firm in the U.S. Equifax, Experian and Transunion are the three bureaus. FICO builds the scoring model; the three bureaus are the ones actually holding your data and generating a report against it. That's why you can get three different numbers depending on which bureau's report was pulled, and why it's worth checking more than one.
Each bureau's report can differ slightly because not every lender reports to all three. A late payment showing on one and missing from another isn't unusual, it just means that particular creditor doesn't send data to that particular bureau.
Chapter 03
You're entitled to see your own report
You can request your credit report yourself, and you should look at it at least once a year. Reading it line by line is the only way to know what's actually being counted against you, rather than guessing.
It's ordinary, not alarming, to find something on there that isn't right: an account that isn't yours, a balance reported wrong, a payment marked late when it wasn't. Reports come from data entry across dozens of creditors and collectors, and mistakes happen.
Errors can be disputed and corrected
If something on your report is wrong, you have the right to dispute it with the bureau reporting it, and to have it corrected or removed if the creditor can't verify it's accurate. That process exists whether or not you ever call us.
For anyone who enrolls with our office, a credit report correction kit comes with it, so you have a concrete way to work through your own report rather than staring at a number and not knowing where it came from.
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What this page isn't telling you
This is general education about how scoring works, not a claim about what any particular program does to your number. A counselor can walk through your specific report with you and explain what's on it, but nobody in our office will tell you a score is guaranteed to go up or down. If you want to understand the kind of program we run day to day, start at the debt management plan page, or read about your rights if collectors are calling.
Want to go through your own report?
A counselor will talk through what's on it with you, at no cost, and explain what each entry means.