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How to Read Your Credit Report

If you've never looked at your credit report, the notion of looking at it to understand how what you do affects your score might seem intimidating. That said, the free report you get when you request it from annualcreditreport.com is actually pretty easy to understand. 

Knowing what areas of your credit report need improvement is the first step to improving your credit score.

If you've never looked at your credit report, the notion of looking at it to understand how what you do affects your score might seem intimidating. That said, the free report you get when you request it from annualcreditreport.com is actually pretty easy to understand.

When you walk through your report piece by piece, the most important part of it is your summary:
 

On your summary you get a quick overview of your report, and based on the information you get from there you can find areas of your report you want to investigate further. Based on the five factors that influence your score, you can make determinations on how to improve your score based on the information in your report.

READ: 5 Factors that impact your credit score

After your summary, your report goes further in-depth into each of your credit accounts, their payment histories, and your credit mix. 

 

Credit Score

If you want to take the work out of analyzing your credit score, Credit Score is a fantastic tool that will help you better understand your score.

Credit Score provides you with personalized score analysis and recommendations on what you can do to improve your score. P1FCU members have free access to their Credit Score in Digital Banking by simply selecting More and then Financial Planning. Then select Credit Score to get started. 

This is for educational purposes only and not financial advice.