Do you understand what is on your credit report?
If your answer is "No," don't worry. You are definitely not alone!

Most people cannot read a credit report, much less understand what one means. You may look at your report and think you are looking at a foreign language. Guess what? You are. We call that language Credit Speak.

Before you can truly understand what your credit report means, you must first learn the basics of the Credit Speak language. This two-pronged approach to reading a credit report is challenging at first. We at Credit Solutions Consultants are here to help you meet that challenge.

When you look at a credit report, the first thing you notice is that nothing really makes sense.
  •  What in the world does "I-9 mean?"
  •  What does "FDTXL" spell?   (No, you cannot buy a vowel!)

So what does it all mean? Simply put, these are some examples of the building blocks of Credit Speak. Just as the ABC's are the building blocks of the English language. Once you master the basics, Credit Speak will become a second language and really no task for you at all. (To see more examples of Credit Speak, click this Link.)

Once you are able to read your credit report, you will need to understand what each entry means, and how it affects you. Some of it is pretty straightforward at first. An entry that says "Paid/Was 30" means you paid the account and you were 30 days late once. Easy, right? Well, maybe not as easy as it looks.

Because there are factors that make that entry more or less important. A 30 day late entry that is a month old is a much bigger problem than one that is three years old. And it will change your credit score more drastically as well. When you understand what kinds of negative entries affect your score more than others, it will be easier to decide which entries to attack. And more importantly, how to attack them.