Now you've gone and done it. You ordered your Equifax credit report —whether for free or one that you purchased, whether sent to you in the post or an online credit report you printed in an instant—and now you hold the intimidating ream of papers in your hands. Congratulations! Really.

"But what do I do now?" you may be wondering. Have no fear! An Equifax credit report is neatly organized and easy to read if you take each item one step at a time. Allow us to take those steps with you now.

Order Confirmation

Before your actual Equifax credit report begins, you'll see a page that confirms your order. It has listed your Equifax Credit File and its cost, as well as any other optional Equifax credit services you may have ordered, such as your Credit Score or your Equifax Credit Rankings. We'll touch more on these Equifax credit services at the end of the article. Then your Equifax credit report lists your Total Price, your Transaction Code (if an online credit report), and your Payment method. Keep this; it is your receipt.

The first page of your Equifax credit report shows your full name, your order confirmation number, and (if an online credit report) the date up to which you can return and view your Equifax credit report online for free (30 days from the date of purchase).

Following that, you will see a Table of Contents dividing all the information in your Equifax credit report into 11 categories. We will now break down all 11 of those for you:

1. Personal Information:
a.
Personal Data
i.
Name
ii.
National Insurance Number
iii.
Age or Date of Birth
iv.
Any aliases or former names
 
b.
Addresses
i.
Current
ii.
Previous addresses
 
c.
Miscellaneous data
i.
Other identification
ii.
Employment history
iii.
Alerts – such as whether you opted to block your file from promotional purposes
iv.
Consumer Statement – an optional (but inadvisable) 100-word statement that you could choose to add to your credit report explaining your credit history and/or any items on your report

2.
Credit Summary: Literally, a summary of account activity described in full detail in the following section of your Equifax credit report, your
 
credit summary displays, in a table, a list of your:

a.
Types of account (i.e. mortgage, installment loans, revolving credit, etc.)
b.
Number of accounts of each type
c.
Total balance of accounts – the dollar amount of your current outstanding balances for each type of account
d.
Number of open accounts
e.
Number of closed accounts
f.
Total accounts in good standing
g.
Accounts currently past due
h.
Negative account history
i.
Inquiries in the last 12 months

3.
Account Information:The meatiest portion of your Equifax credit report, here is where you'll find detailed information on each of your
 
accounts with creditors/lenders:

a.
First, a more detailed summary of your open accounts, listing:
i.
Each individual creditor (bank, credit card company, etc.)
ii.
Account type (revolving, mortgage, open, installment, etc.)
iii.
Account number (with the last 4 digits blacked out)
iv.
Date opened
v.
Balance (as of the creditors last reporting to Equifax credit services)
vi.
Date reported
vii.
Past due (if none, then £0 is listed)
viii.
Account status (your credit performance in a nutshell, i.e "pays as agreed")
ix.
Credit limit
 
b.
Then a thorough description of each individual open account, down to an 81-month payment history
 
c. Finally, a repeat of your summary of open accounts, followed by similar summaries of:
i.
Closed accounts
ii.
Accounts in good standing
iii.
Accounts currently past due
iv.
Negative account history

4. Inquiries: Companies that have requested or viewed the information in your Equifax credit report, broken down into:

a.
Inquiries in the last 12 months
b.
A detailed listing of companies that requested your Equifax credit report
c.
Inquiries that do not display to companies and do not impact your credit score – the inquiries listed here are a rare portion of your Equifax credit report that are "for your eyes only"

5. Collections: Accounts turned over to collection agencies

6. Public Records: Bankruptcies, liens, garnishments, and other judgments

The last four sections are General Information sections that do not contain any information specific to you or relevant to your creditworthiness:

7. Dispute File Information – how to dispute any information you find to be wrong in your Equifax credit report

8. Summary of Your Rights

9. Remedying the Effects of Identity Theft

10. Your Rights Under the law

(and, if ordered):

11. Credit Score

Once you've reviewed your Equifax credit report, you may then wish to consider one of the many excellent Equifax credit services at your disposal, including: