Understanding Free Online TransUnion and Equifax Credit Reports

Regular viewing of your free TransUnion and Equifax credit reports online is essential to managing your credit standing. Both the TransUnion credit report and Equifax credit report contain similar information but in different formats. With frequent viewings you'll learn each credit report style and quickly spot critical changes to your credit report.

Like all credit reports, the TransUnion and Equifax credit reports provide an overview of your past history handling credit. They contain information about your current debts, payment record (on time or late), debt ratio, arrests or bankruptcies, and other items. Credit reports are not perfect documents and many contain errors. It's advisable to check your TransUnion credit report and Equifax credit report at least once a year to make sure that all the information is correct. Negative items can affect your credit score, which is what banks and other lending institutions use to evaluate your "credit-worthiness." Contact the credit bureaus about any negative information that is incorrect immediately to limit damage to your credit report.

Your free online TransUnion and Equifax credit reports include this information:

  • Your name, address, and present and past employers
  • Outstanding debts including car loans, mortgages and credit cards
  • Payment record (notes late payments and missed)
  • Public records including tax liens, court judgments against you and bankruptcies
  • General information such as your Social Security number, and marital status

The bureaus use your credit report to compute your credit score. The score weighs various factors, including:

Your payment history
Payment history on credit cards, retail accounts at stores, installment loans, and mortgages (35% of total score).

Amounts owed
How many accounts have balances and how much of the total credit line is being used on credit cards and other "revolving credit" accounts (30% of total score).

Length of credit history
The longer the history, the better. If possible, parents should help children establish credit histories before they go out on their own (15% of total score).

New credit
Applying for too much new credit is one of the easiest ways for people to inadvertently harm their credit score (10% of total score).

Types of credit
This takes into account your mix of installment loans, mortgages, retail accounts, credit cards and finance company accounts (10% of total score).

Of lesser weight, but still important, are these factors:

  • Your education level. It sounds arbitrary, but it's true. A college-educated person is given more "points" than a high school graduate.
  • The number of years you've lived in a single location. If you've moved around a lot, you lose precious points. If you've moved because of a better-paying job, you can recoup some of those points if your salary has increased.
  • The number of years you've worked for a single employer. Scoring agencies like people who are stable. That's why they assign more points to people who've lived in a particular place for several years or worked for a single employer for many years.
  • Whether you're a homeowner. If you are, you get additional points. Renters are considered more transient and less reliable.

Keeping an eye on your credit history is a smart move and you can check your TransUnion credit reports as well as Equifax credit reports for free once a year. Visit the free site maintained by TransUnion, Equifax and Experian called annualcreditreport.com and order your bureau credit reports. It's simple to do, and as soon as your identity is confirmed, you'll receive your free credit report. (Keep in mind that you must repeat the process for each free credit report that you order.)

When checking your credit report, watch out for these common problems:

  • Credit fraud: When someone uses your credit card numbers to run up large bills, it is fraud. While the law protects you with a maximum payable of $50 for each card that has been stolen, the unusual credit activity may red flag your file for some lenders. If you see any accounts you don't recognize, notify the bureau.
  • Identity theft: When someone takes an account number and/or personal information, and begins opening other accounts and running up bills you did not authorize, your identity is stolen. Have a fraud alert placed on your credit report as soon as possible to limit further credit damage.
  • Inquiries made: Every time you apply for any kind of loan or credit, the potential lender makes an inquiry, which is noted on your credit report history. If you apply repeatedly, or to several institutions at a time, it can make lenders wary of your credit history. You need to be sure that all inquiries were legitimate results of your own requests, and not unauthorized, which may mean the inquirer broke the law.
  • Inaccurate entries: The human error factor has not been eliminated by the use of computerized records. Data can be entered incorrectly, or information from another credit file may be posted to yours. Payments made, may not be recorded. Checking the CRAs' records against your own, will point out any inconsistencies.
  • Payment Record: If you are regularly mailing payments, you may be unaware that there are problems in the mail delivery system. Repeated late payments, and possibly even missed ones, may be lowering your credit status. Make sure all payments are present and accounted for to protect your credit report and score.