How to read a credit report in 20 minutes

Every bureau's report consists of the same blocks, and errors most often live in three of them.

1. Personal information. Name, addresses, SSN, employers. Someone else's name or address is a sign of a mixed file.
2. Accounts (tradelines). Each account: opening date, limit, balance, month-by-month payment history. Look at "30/60/90 late" and the "charge-off" status.
3. Collections. Debts handed over to collectors. Check whether the debt is yours and whether it's counted twice: with the original creditor and with the collector.
4. Inquiries. Hard inquiries stay for two years. Each one you didn't consent to can be disputed.
5. Public records. Bankruptcies. Chapter 7 drops off after 10 years, Chapter 13 after 7.

What to check first: dates of late payments (older than 7 years shouldn't be shown), collection amounts, duplicate accounts, unfamiliar addresses and inquiries from the last 24 months.

The three bureaus' reports differ: a creditor may not have reported to all of them. Check all three.