The components of a credit report can be broken into four categories:
- Personally Identifiable Information (PII): Name, Social Security number, address, date of birth and employment information.
- Credit Accounts: Credit card, auto loan, mortgage, etc., with specific information such as dates, amounts, a payment history and more.
- Credit Inquiries: Authorized check-ins from lenders, employers, etc.
- Public Records and Collections: Declaration of bankruptcy or overdue debt that has been sent to collections.
- Detailed credit reports are compiled by three nationwide credit bureaus — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.
- Each one may collect different information and use a distinct method of calculating a score. This explains why you may see different scores.
- The Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) score is what is used by over 90% of the top lenders and typically ranges from 300 to 850.
- FICO scores take the information from bureaus and calculate a score by breaking these five categories of credit data into percentages:
- Payment history (35%)
- Amounts owed (30%)
- Length of credit history (15%)
- Credit mix (10%)
- New credit (10%)
Infographic created by Stein Saks, experts in legally defending against credit reporting errors