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First Paychecks: leave the lesson and go back to the map

Your Credit Report: The Record

  1. Warm-up
  2. Story
  3. Learn
  4. Play
  5. Quiz
  6. Remember
  7. Try it
  8. Finish

About this lesson

About 15 minutes · 5 quiz questions

The big idea: Your credit report records how you’ve borrowed and paid. You can check it for free, and you have the right to get mistakes fixed.

Lesson outline

The big idea: Your credit report records how you’ve borrowed and paid. You can check it for free, and you have the right to get mistakes fixed.

The story: Ana checks the record

Ana sits with a laptop reading a credit report and finds two lines that look wrong before applying for an apartment.

  1. Narrator: Ana is about to apply for an apartment. A friend says landlords often check credit.
  2. Ana: I’ve never looked at my credit report. Do I have to pay to see it?
  3. Narrator: No. The official free site is AnnualCreditReport.com. It has reports from all three big credit bureaus.
  4. Ana: This card says 60 days late, but I’ve never been late. And I don’t know this collection.
  5. Narrator: Mistakes are common. Disputing them with the bureau is free, and the bureau has to investigate.
  6. Ana: Then I’ll dispute both before I apply.
  7. Narrator: Your report is your record. Check it for free, and get mistakes fixed.

What you’ll learn

  1. What’s on it, and what isn’t

    A credit report lists your loans and cards, your payment history, balances, credit inquiries and any collections. It doesn’t show your income, your bank balance or what you buy with a debit card.

  2. Three bureaus, three reports

    Three big credit bureaus each keep their own report on you. Lenders don’t always report to all three, so your reports can differ. The free official site is AnnualCreditReport.com, and how often it’s free is on the fact card.

  3. Hard and soft inquiries

    A hard inquiry happens when you apply for credit. It can lower a score a little for a while. A soft inquiry, like checking your own report, never hurts your score.

  4. Mistakes get fixed for free

    Late marks that aren’t true, accounts that aren’t yours and debts listed twice are common errors. You can dispute them with the bureau for free, and it has to investigate. True negative items drop off after a set time (see the card).

Key words

credit report
the record of how you’ve borrowed and paid back
credit bureau
a company that keeps credit reports
Also called: consumer reporting company
hard / soft inquiry
a credit check when you apply (hard) or a check that doesn’t count against you (soft)
collection account
an unpaid debt handed to a collector

Common questions

Is a credit report the same as a credit score?
No. The report is the record. A score is a number a scoring model figures from that record. The next lesson covers scores.
What if I don’t have a report yet?
With no loans or cards, a bureau may have no file on you yet. That’s called being credit invisible, and credit can be built from zero.

Remember this

Three free reports. You have the right to get mistakes fixed, free.

Try it: Pull your free credit reports

  1. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com, the official free site (outside the app).
  2. Get your report from each of the three bureaus.
  3. Check every account, balance and late mark, and note anything that isn’t right.

The whole mission; no account or app needed.

Live facts

Numbers that change over time, with when they were last checked and where they come from.

Builds on

Leads to

Lessons teach how money works. They are not financial advice.