CheckDispute Guides

A first-pass credit report review: what to look for, in what order CheckDispute · Sources checked September 20, 2026 Work a credit report review checklist in a fixed order: identity information first, then each account against your own paperwork, then the dates that control how long an item may be reported. Order matters because an error in the first section changes how you read every line under it. Done this way, a first pass ends with something usable — an account, a field, a page number and a date, written down while both documents are still in front of you. What follows is that order, the document you compare against at each step, and what a difference does and does not prove. What should you check first when you review a credit report? Check the personal information section first, because an error there changes the meaning of everything below it. That section commonly holds your name and any name you used in the past in connection with a credit account, including nicknames, y...

Why your three credit reports may look different CheckDispute · Sources checked September 20, 2026 Your three credit reports can look different because each nationwide credit bureau collects information from different sources, so one bureau's report may not be completely the same as the other two. A difference between two reports is ordinary, and on its own it does not establish that either report is wrong. This guide shows you how to set two reports side by side, which fields to compare on a single account, and what a mismatch does and does not prove — so that if you do write something down, it names an account, a field, a value and a date. Are all three of your credit reports supposed to be the same? No. You hold three separate files at three separate companies, and they were never assembled from one shared feed. The FTC, in its guidance on free credit reports , answers the question directly: because each credit bureau may get its information from different sources, the infor...

How to get your free credit report through AnnualCreditReport.com CheckDispute · Sources checked September 20, 2026 AnnualCreditReport.com is the only website the federal government authorizes to fill orders for the free annual credit reports you are entitled to by law, and there are exactly three ways to place that order: the website, the toll-free number 1-877-322-8228, or a mailed request form. Anything else is a lookalike or a paid product. This guide walks one request from start to finish — what the identity check asks for and why each bureau asks separately, what the phone and mail routes cost you in days, and what to do when a bureau will not verify you online. How many free credit reports are you entitled to? One from each nationwide credit bureau every 12 months, at minimum, on request. The FTC states that federal law requires each nationwide credit bureau to give you a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months if you ask for it . The right behind that sentence ...

Credit report versus credit score: what each tells you CheckDispute · Sources checked September 20, 2026 A credit report is a dated record of your credit accounts and credit activity, held by a credit reporting company. A credit score is a three-digit number that a scoring model calculates from the information in a report. The difference that matters when something looks wrong is this: the report is a document with named fields you can compare against your own paperwork and ask to have corrected; the score is an output of that document. This guide shows what each one can tell you, and which of the two gives you something to point at. Does your credit report include your credit score? Usually not. USAGov states plainly that in most cases your credit report will not include your credit score , and the CFPB says the free credit reports provided by the nationwide credit reporting agencies currently do not include free credit scores . That is not an oversight in how the reports are asse...

How to read your credit report, one section at a time CheckDispute · Sources checked September 20, 2026 Read your credit report in the order it arrives — personal information, credit accounts, collection items, public records, inquiries — and stop at the end of each section to pick up the one document you would compare it against. That second document is the part most guides leave out, and it is what turns "this looks wrong" into a sentence naming an account, a field and a date. This guide walks the five sections, names the field worth reading in each one, and says plainly what a difference between two documents does and does not prove. What are the five sections, and what do you compare each one against? Your report has five parts, and each one has a natural counterpart in paperwork you already own. The CFPB describes a credit report as a statement of your credit activity and current credit situation , including loan payment history and the status of your credit accounts...