Accounts/Trade Lines:
This includes credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, real estate, installment loans and revolving debt like department store cards. The report will include information on the accounts such as the balance, payment history, terms, and account status such as whether the account was put into bankruptcy, charged off, or repossessed.
Collection Accounts:
Collections are accounts that are seriously past due and have been transferred to a collection agency or creditor's internal collection department. Collections can appear to be paid and unpaid (and yes, this makes a difference when disputing…more on this later). Any type of collection, whether it is paid or unpaid, is negative.
One thing you may encounter is multiple listings on credit reports for the same debt. This happens as the debt collection agencies sell the debt to other agencies. As debt is transferred between different agencies, there may be several records on the credit report for the same debt. Only one record should be marked as open at a time on the credit report.
Public Records:
The public information section of the credit report includes publicly available information about legal matters affecting your credit. This could include judgments in civil actions, state or federal tax liens, and bankruptcies. All court records, including satisfactions, are considered negative by all credit grantors. Because some public record information is accessible only by visiting courthouses and other government buildings in person, the credit bureaus have to send people to the courthouse to gather the records.
Inquiries:
Every time credit is applied for, a credit report is pulled. The inquiry section of a credit report includes records of businesses that have checked your credit in the last two years. When creditors and lenders review your credit data for the purpose of an application, a hard inquiry is listed on the credit report. Too many hard inquiries can harm a credit score. The reason being is that credit grantors get nervous that you are not managing credit “responsibly.”
