Credit Reports

An authorized user is someone allowed to use another person's credit-card account without being the primary account holder.

Average age of accounts is the typical age of the accounts on a credit file when viewed together.

A collection account is a debt that has been sent or sold to collections and is now reported in that status.

A consumer statement is a short note a consumer may add to a credit file to explain a disputed or unusual situation.

A credit bureau is a company that gathers and maintains consumer credit-file information.

Credit monitoring is ongoing observation of a consumer's credit-file activity for changes, alerts, or suspicious events.

A credit report is the file that lists a consumer's credit accounts, inquiries, and other relevant reporting data.

Credit-report terms that explain bureaus, tradelines, inquiries, and the records that shape a consumer credit file.

A derogatory mark is negative credit-file information that suggests elevated repayment risk or account trouble.

A dispute is a challenge to credit-report information that the consumer believes is inaccurate or incomplete.

A dispute letter is a written notice used to challenge credit-report information the consumer believes is inaccurate or incomplete.

A furnisher is a company or organization that supplies consumer credit information to a credit bureau.

A hard inquiry is a credit-file check tied to a credit application or another approval decision.

Identity verification is the process of confirming that the person requesting credit or file access is who they claim to be.

A mixed credit file is a credit report that contains information belonging partly to another person.

Permissible purpose is a legally valid reason for a company or institution to access a consumer credit report.

A public record is a court or government record item that may be associated with a consumer's credit-reporting history.

A soft inquiry is a credit-file review that is not treated like a full new-credit application pull.

A tradeline is an individual account entry on a credit report.

An unauthorized account is a credit account appearing on the report that the consumer did not open or approve.

An unauthorized inquiry is a credit-report inquiry the consumer does not recognize or did not permit.