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Money Mechanics / Topics / Credit & Borrowing
Credit & Borrowing · Guide

Credit Reports & Scores

Your credit report is the machine's service history — every loan, every payment, logged by companies you've never met. Your score is the inspection grade computed from it. You can read the history, correct it, and improve the grade; here's the manual.

TypeGuide
LevelStart here
CostFree to read
SectionsStart · Problems · Rights · How-to
Start here

The things that trip people up

Get these straight first — the rest of the guide reads clean once you have them.

Report vs. score: history vs. grade

The report is the raw record — accounts, balances, payment history. The score is a number computed from that record. Fix the record and the grade follows; chasing the number directly gets it backwards.

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Your reports are free — check them yearly

You're entitled to free copies of your credit reports from each nationwide bureau. Review them at least once a year for errors, because a mistake in the file can cost you a loan approval or a better rate.

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Denied an apartment? There's a report for that too

Landlords often use tenant screening reports. If a rental application is denied because of one, you can request a copy of that report and dispute what's wrong in it — same rights, different file.

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Key terms10 terms
Credit report
Your borrowing service history: accounts, balances, payment record, and public records, compiled by a reporting company.
Credit score
A number computed from your report to predict repayment risk. Different scoring models produce different numbers from the same file.
Credit reporting company
A business that compiles and sells consumer files — the big three bureaus plus dozens of specialty firms.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
The federal law behind most of your rights here: access to your files, dispute rights, and limits on who can pull your report.
Security freeze
A free lock on your file that blocks new-credit checks until you lift it. The strongest anti-identity-theft setting there is.
Fraud alert
A flag on your file telling lenders to verify identity before opening accounts. Lighter than a freeze, easier to live with.
Credit invisible
Having no file at all with the bureaus — common for young adults and recent arrivals, and a barrier to first credit.
Thin file
A file too sparse to score reliably. Not bad credit — just not enough history for the models to grade.
Specialty reporting company
Firms that keep non-bureau files: rental history, banking behavior, insurance claims, employment checks. All requestable.
Hard vs. soft inquiry
A hard pull (loan application) can nudge your score; a soft pull (checking your own report, prescreening) never does.
Common problems

When it acts up

What’s actually happening, and the fix.

Your application was denied because of your report or score

The lender must tell you which report they used. Get that report free, find what drove the denial, and dispute anything inaccurate. Fix →

You have little or no credit history to build from

Secured cards, credit-builder loans, and being added as an authorized user all create history from a standing start. Fix →

You suspect identity theft in your file

Place a fraud alert or freeze immediately, pull all three reports, and dispute every account you don't recognize. Speed matters here. Fix →

STD

Your rights

Protections most people don’t know they have — they come standard.

  • Checking your own credit report never lowers your score — self-checks are soft inquiries, always. Learn more
  • You can dispute errors and the reporting company must investigate, typically within 30 days, and correct or delete what it can't verify. Learn more
  • Credit discrimination is illegal — lenders can't factor in race, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or public-assistance income. Learn more
  • Security freezes and fraud alerts are free at all three bureaus, and specialty reporting companies must show you your file on request. Learn more
Escalation

Disputes go to two places at once: the reporting company that published the error AND the company that furnished the bad data. If neither fixes it, file with the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint.

Caution

No company can legally remove accurate information from your report or do anything you can't do yourself for free. Paying up front, guaranteed results, and advice to dispute accurate items are the three tells of a repair scam.

How-to

The jobs you’ll actually do

Step-by-step, in plain language.