Read your report
How to Read Your Experian Credit Report
Introduction
Experian is one of the three major credit bureaus. They produce credit reports based on information submitted by lenders and collectors. Their report layout has specific quirks worth knowing about.
Getting your Experian report
The free way: visit annualcreditreport.com and select Experian when given the choice of bureaus.
Experian also runs their own free service at experian.com, which provides ongoing access to your Experian report and FICO 8 score updates. Be aware that experian.com aggressively cross-sells paid services. The free tier is genuinely free, but you will be asked many times if you want to upgrade. You do not need to upgrade to use the free credit report features.
How Experian organizes information
Experian's report is divided into several main sections.
Personal information appears at the top. Verify that your name, addresses, and other personal data are correct. Errors here can sometimes indicate identity theft.
Account history is the largest section. Accounts are typically listed in order of most recent activity. Each account is shown as a block with the lender's name, balance, status, and payment history.
Public records appears separately. As of 2018, this section is mostly empty for most people because tax liens and civil judgments were removed from credit reports.
Inquiries appears toward the end and shows who has requested your credit report. Hard inquiries affect your score. Soft inquiries (from yourself, employers checking with permission, prescreened offers) do not.
What to look for on an Experian report
Account status
Each account has a status. Common statuses include:
- Open / Current - the account is open and you are paying as agreed
- Closed - the account is closed, may or may not have been paid in full
- Paid - the account has been paid in full
- Past due - you are behind on payments
- Collection - the account has been turned over to a collection agency
- Charge-off - the original creditor has written off the debt as a loss
A "charged off" status means the original creditor gave up trying to collect and accepted the loss for accounting purposes. The debt is still legally owed and may still be sold to debt buyers, but the original creditor has stopped trying to collect.
The scheduled removal date issue on Experian
Here is something specific to Experian that catches many people off guard: Experian does not always display a scheduled removal date prominently for collection accounts. You sometimes have to calculate it yourself.
Experian will show various dates for an account: the date opened, the date of last activity, the date of status, the date reported. None of these are necessarily the date the account will fall off your report.
The actual fall-off date for derogatory accounts under federal law is seven years from the original Date of First Delinquency with the original creditor. We explain this in detail on our Finding Your Fall-Off Date page. Read that page if you want to verify when an account should drop off your report.
Watch for re-aging
Re-aging is when a debt collector reports an account with dates that make it look newer than it actually is. This is illegal under federal law but happens regularly.
Signs of re-aging on an Experian report:
- An account opening date that does not match when you actually opened the account with the original creditor
- A "scheduled removal date" that is more than seven years from when you actually became delinquent
- An account that disappears and reappears with different dates
If you suspect re-aging, see our page on Re-aging for what to do.
Multiple entries for the same debt
When a debt is sold, both the original creditor's record and the debt buyer's record may appear on your Experian report. This does not mean you owe the debt twice. The same underlying debt is just being reported by two different parties.
Pay attention to the balance shown. The original creditor's entry often shows a balance of zero (because they sold the debt) while the debt buyer's entry shows the current outstanding balance. If both show full balances, that is a problem worth disputing.
Common issues on Experian reports
Old accounts not falling off
Federal law requires negative items to be removed seven years after the original delinquency. If you find accounts older than this still on your report, they should be disputed.
Accounts you do not recognize
Could be identity theft. Could be a debt buyer using a name you do not recognize for a debt that was originally with a creditor you do recognize. Investigate before disputing - there is a difference between "this is not my debt" and "I do not recognize the company reporting it."
Inaccurate balances
Balances should reflect what was actually owed. If a collection shows a balance higher than the original debt, the difference is usually fees and interest the collector has added. Some of those additions may not be legally allowed depending on your state and the original contract.
Inquiries you did not authorize
Hard inquiries should only happen when you have applied for credit. If you see inquiries from companies you have not interacted with, those can be disputed.
Filing a dispute with Experian
Experian's dispute portal is at experian.com/disputes. The process:
- Create a free account (if you do not have one)
- Identify the specific item you are disputing
- Select the reason for the dispute
- Provide a written explanation
- Upload supporting documentation if you have it
- Submit and receive a confirmation number
Experian has 30 days to investigate (sometimes extended to 45 days in specific circumstances). They will contact the company that reported the information and ask them to verify it. If the company cannot verify it or does not respond, the item must be removed.
You can also dispute by mail, which some people prefer because it creates a paper trail. The address is:
Experian P.O. Box 4500 Allen, TX 75013
Send disputes by certified mail with return receipt requested if you want documentation that they received it.
Templates
For specific dispute situations, we have customizable templates: