There are a number of ways to get your credit report. One of the easiest and most affordable ways to do so would be to go to www.AnnualCreditReport.com. By using this site, which is backed by the Federal Government of the United States of America, individuals can get a free report from each one of the three credit bureaus, once every twelve months. However, once you get the report it can be slightly confusing. It’s not just a simple number like they show on television. Here are some hints for decoding your report:

There are negative credit indicators and positive credit indicators. On your report, you will see how many potentially negative indicators you have on your credit report and how many accounts you have that are positive or in good standing.

There are a number of codes that are made up of a letter and a number. These codes are made up of R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, I6, I7, I8 and I9. R stands for revolving credit and I stands for installment credit.

The numbers indicate the payment schedule. 1 means the payment was never late, 2 means the payment has been 30 days late, 3 means the payment has been 60 days late. The numbers continue to go up and the corresponding increments are 90 days, 120 days, that payments are being made under the wage earner plan, repossession and charge off.

In recent years, additional numbers and letters may be found. The letter O is the code for ‘Open’. The number zero (0) is code for approved, and 1 is paid as agreed. In this version, the FICO version, the numbers 2-8 correspond to the numbers stated for 1-8 in the previously created code.

In the FICO version, the number 9 corresponds to being charged off because of bad debt. J stands for Joint, I for Individual, U for Undesignated, A for Authorized User, T for Terminated, M for Maker, C for Co-Signer, B for on the Behalf of another Individual and S for Shared. This version is quickly becoming the more popular way to code credit reports.