Comments on: 60-Second Guide to College Savings Strategies http://www.mint.com/blog/the-motley-fool/60-second-guide-to-debt-planning-and-college-savings-strategies-2/ The blog of the free, simple personal finance solution. Track all your spending automatically, find the best deals, save more money. And save the world. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:48:42 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Ritu Agawal http://www.mint.com/blog/the-motley-fool/60-second-guide-to-debt-planning-and-college-savings-strategies-2/comment-page-1/#comment-40437 Ritu Agawal Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:21:38 +0000 http://blog.mint.com/blog/the-motley-fool/60-second-guide-to-college-savings-strategies-2/#comment-40437 If you have seen a credit report you know that at first glance it looks about as comprehensible as a preschooler’s scribblings. There is a ton of jargon used to describe “credit events”: things that affect the person’s credit score in the eyes of the credit bureaus and lenders. I thought it would be interesting to throw together a guide to all the terms used on a credit report: - ID Mismatch: This is a serious red alert on a credit report. This means the social security number, name or address of the person it belongs to is incorrect or inconsistent with government and public records. If you see this on your credit report, make sure you contact the Social Security Administration and the three credit bureaus rightaway. - Public Records: This area of your credit report is better blank than filled out! Zero public records mean that you have had no bankruptcies, no tax evasion and no finance related crimes. - Installment Loans: These refer to fixed payment loans such as a mortgage, car loan or student loans. - Revolving Loan: This refers to a credit card, Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC) or any other credit line that you can draw upon. Needless to say if you see an installment loan or a revolving loan on your credit report that you don’t recognize, call the credit bureaus immediately. - Positive and Negative Trade Lines: A negative trade line is a loan that has had late payments. A positive trade line has had no late payments. “Late” is a relative term across lenders but 120 days late is definitely considered to be a credit event. Once a loan gets designated as a negative trade line, it takes a long series of on-time payments before the record is cleared. - Past Due: The amount that was due on a loan/credit line when a particular event occurred. For example, if a credit card was closed when the “Past Due” was set to $1000, it would mean that you closed the account without paying off your debt. Prospective lenders or employers do not like to see this, so make sure all past dues are set to zero. These are the terms I found to be most recurrent. Let me know if you have come across anything else that puzzled you on a credit report. For more smart money advice visit my homepage at http://www.themoneyladder.com "smart money advice for smart young people" If you have seen a credit report you know that at first glance it looks about as comprehensible as a preschooler’s scribblings. There is a ton of jargon used to describe “credit events”: things that affect the person’s credit score in the eyes of the credit bureaus and lenders.

I thought it would be interesting to throw together a guide to all the terms used on a credit report:

- ID Mismatch: This is a serious red alert on a credit report. This means the social security number, name or address of the person it belongs to is incorrect or inconsistent with government and public records. If you see this on your credit report, make sure you contact the Social Security Administration and the three credit bureaus rightaway.

- Public Records: This area of your credit report is better blank than filled out! Zero public records mean that you have had no bankruptcies, no tax evasion and no finance related crimes.

- Installment Loans: These refer to fixed payment loans such as a mortgage, car loan or student loans.

- Revolving Loan: This refers to a credit card, Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC) or any other credit line that you can draw upon. Needless to say if you see an installment loan or a revolving loan on your credit report that you don’t recognize, call the credit bureaus immediately.

- Positive and Negative Trade Lines: A negative trade line is a loan that has had late payments. A positive trade line has had no late payments. “Late” is a relative term across lenders but 120 days late is definitely considered to be a credit event. Once a loan gets designated as a negative trade line, it takes a long series of on-time payments before the record is cleared.

- Past Due: The amount that was due on a loan/credit line when a particular event occurred. For example, if a credit card was closed when the “Past Due” was set to $1000, it would mean that you closed the account without paying off your debt. Prospective lenders or employers do not like to see this, so make sure all past dues are set to zero.

These are the terms I found to be most recurrent. Let me know if you have come across anything else that puzzled you on a credit report.

For more smart money advice visit my homepage at http://www.themoneyladder.com

“smart money advice for smart young people”

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