Trade Lines are credit accounts that you have established.
Type of Account:
This section identifies the type of credit account, or trade line, that is being reported to your credit report, such as a bank card, gas card, credit card, auto loan, mortgage, etc.
Date Opened:
The length of your credit history is about 15% of your Credit Score. As your credit account ‘ages’ and gets ‘older’, and also remains Current and in Good Standing, the further you establish a strong and solid credit history, which then improves your Credit Score. So make sure that the Open Date is accurate.
Credit Limit:
Some creditors will not report a Credit Limit, or worse, report a lower Credit Limit, or report The Highest Credit Charged, which, depending on your Current Outstanding Balance, could hurt your Utilization Ratio. Keeping your Utilization Ratio below 30% is preferable and below 10% is ideal. If you exceed your Utilization Ratio you could cause damage your Credit Score. So make sure that your Credit Limit on your credit report is accurate.
Loan Amount:
Your Loan Amount on your credit report will become more important as you make your timely payments and reduce your Account Balance. So make sure that your Loan Amount is accurate on your credit report.
Account Balance:
How much money you owe on your credit account is about 30% of your Credit Score. The Account Balance is essentially how much money you owe on your credit account, and as you make your timely payments and your Account Balance goes down, you are improving your Utilization Ratio, which in turn has a positive affect on your Credit Score.
Payment History:
Your Payment History is about 35% of your Credit Score. It is critical that you maintain good personal records of your ON TIME PAYMENTS and if you see any errors on your credit report such as ‘missed payments’ or ‘late payments’ and you know that this reporting is not accurate, then it’s time to file a dispute to the Credit Reporting Agency because your Payment History has a huge impact (35%) on your Credit Score.
Account Status:
The wrong Account Status of your credit accounts may have a negative affect on your ability to qualify for new credit, this may also lower your Credit Score, and worse, a wrong Account Status may cause a credit card company to lower your credit limit on your current credit card. For example, a credit account showing CLOSED rather than PAID IN FULL is not accurate and will hurt your Credit Score. An account showing DEFAULT instead of SETTLED can hurt your Credit Score.
Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs), under the Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), are mandated to make sure that the information on your credit report is 100% accurate, and you have the right, under the FCRA, to dispute any item(s) that you find on your credit report to be inaccurate.
