How to Tell What Affects Your Credit Score Negatively in Your Credit Report
A credit report gives you insight into your credit history, offering you the opportunity to catch errors and negative items. After skimming through your credit report for the first time, you may be at a loss for what everything means. While not difficult to decipher, a credit report consists of several different sections that outline a variety of items, so identifying negative items can be a chore. Fortunately, you only have to look out for a few words or phrases to pinpoint negative items in your report.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Look for anything that mentions past-due payments. Past-due payments negatively affect your credit score and typically appear past due in increments of 30 days. You can usually find reports of past-due payments by looking at each individual lender in your report or by glancing at the "Negative" or "Potentially Negative" items section.
-
2
Examine the "Inquiries" section. Hard inquiries, such as those that come from lenders who check your credit before deciding on a loan approval, damage your credit. Most credit reports display a visual aid to help you determine if you have too many inquiries
-
-
3
Look for anything that refers to a closed account. Closed accounts occur when you fail to make payments for an excessive amount of time. The lender typically turns your account over to a collections agency when it feels it cannot collect the money from you, which damages your credit score.
-
4
Inspect your report for any red font and minus signs. Some credit reports attempt to attract your attention to negative items by highlighting them in red font and placing a minus sign in front of them.
-
5
Look at your total available credit. Most credit reports show your total available credit in the form of a pie chart. Using a high percentage of your available credit worsens your credit score. According to CreditReport.com, it's best to use 25 percent or less of your total available credit.
-
1
