Credit Clarity · Updated September 24, 2026
Credit report glossary.
Plain definitions of the words you will see on a credit report and in dispute letters. Each one names the official source it comes from and links to the guide that explains it in depth.
Credit report
A credit report is a record of your credit activity and current credit situation, such as your loan payment history and the status of your credit accounts, according to the CFPB. Most people have more than one, because each credit reporting company keeps its own file.
Source: CFPB · Read the guide
Credit reporting company (credit bureau)
A credit reporting company, also called a credit bureau or consumer reporting agency, collects and stores information about you that lenders, credit card companies and others send to it. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are the three nationwide credit reporting companies.
Source: CFPB · CFPB · Read the guide
Furnisher
A furnisher is a company that sends information about you to a credit reporting company, such as a lender, a credit card company or a debt collector. The CFPB advises disputing an error with both the credit reporting company and the furnisher. When a credit reporting company forwards your dispute, federal law requires the furnisher to investigate and report its results.
Source: CFPB · 15 U.S.C. §1681s-2 · Read the guide
Credit report dispute
A credit report dispute is your challenge to information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. You can file it yourself, for free, with the credit reporting company and with the company that provided the information. The CFPB recommends explaining in writing what is wrong and why, with copies, not originals, of the documents that support you.
Source: CFPB · Read the guide
Reinvestigation
Reinvestigation is the law’s word for a credit reporting company’s check of an item you dispute. It must notify the furnisher within 5 business days and finish within 30 days of receiving your dispute, or up to 15 more days if you send more relevant information during that time. It then records the item’s current status or deletes it.
Source: 15 U.S.C. §1681i · Read the guide
Frivolous or irrelevant dispute
A credit reporting company may stop investigating a dispute it reasonably decides is frivolous or irrelevant, including when you did not give enough information to investigate. It must tell you within 5 business days. Naming the account, the exact entry and why it is wrong makes a dispute specific.
Source: 15 U.S.C. §1681i · Read the guide
Verified result
A verified result means the credit reporting company’s reinvestigation kept the item as it was reported. It does not by itself prove the item is right or wrong. You can ask for a description of the procedure used to check the item, and the company must provide it within 15 days of your request.
Source: 15 U.S.C. §1681i · Read the guide
Accurate negative information
Accurate negative information is unfavorable but correct, such as a late payment that really happened. It is not an error. The CFPB says you generally cannot have it removed, and that anyone who claims they can remove current, accurate negative information is probably running a credit repair scam.
Source: CFPB · Read the guide
Reporting time limits
Credit reporting companies can generally report negative information for up to seven years. Bankruptcies can stay for up to ten years, and positive information can stay longer, according to the CFPB.
Source: CFPB · Read the guide
Charged off
“Charged off” means the creditor recorded a delinquent account as a loss in its books; the law calls it “charged to profit and loss.” It is an accounting action, not a statement that the debt is no longer owed. The seven-year reporting period for such an account starts 180 days after the delinquency that came before the charge-off.
Source: 15 U.S.C. §1681c · Read the guide
Collection account
A collection account shows a debt that a debt collector is collecting. Before a debt collector reports a debt to a credit reporting company, it must first try to reach you, for example by mailing you a letter and waiting a reasonable time, generally 14 days, to see whether it came back undeliverable.
Source: CFPB · Read the guide
Validation notice
A validation notice is the written information a debt collector must give you about a debt, including the creditor’s name, an itemization of the amount and the end date of a 30-day period to dispute it. If you dispute in writing within those 30 days, the collector must pause collecting the disputed amount until it responds.
Source: CFPB · Read the guide
Security freeze (credit freeze)
A security freeze keeps most prospective creditors from seeing your credit file, which makes it harder for an identity thief to open new credit in your name. It is free at each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies, you contact each one separately, and it does not affect your credit scores.
Source: CFPB · Read the guide
Fraud alert
A fraud alert on your credit file tells businesses that check it to take extra steps to confirm your identity before opening credit. An initial alert lasts at least one year; an extended alert for identity theft victims lasts seven years.
Source: 15 U.S.C. §1681c-1 · Read the guide
Identity theft block
An identity theft block stops a credit reporting company from reporting information that resulted from identity theft. It must block that information within 4 business days after receiving proof of your identity, a copy of an identity theft report, the information you identify and your statement that it is not yours. It is only for real identity theft.
Source: 15 U.S.C. §1681c-2 · Read the guide
Credit score
A credit score is a prediction of your credit behavior, such as how likely you are to repay a loan on time, calculated from your credit reports by a scoring model. You have many scores, not just one, and most range from 300 to 850. A credit report is the record; a score is a number calculated from it.
Source: CFPB · Read the guide
AnnualCreditReport.com
AnnualCreditReport.com is the only authorized website for your free credit reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, according to the FTC. Other sites that advertise free reports may not be.
Source: FTC · Read the guide
Credit repair organization
Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, a credit repair organization may not charge or receive payment for a service before that service is fully performed, and it must give you a written statement of your rights before you sign a contract. You never need to pay anyone to dispute an error.
Source: 15 U.S.C. §1679b · 15 U.S.C. §1679c · Read the guide
General information, not legal advice. Disputing is free, and you can do it yourself directly with the credit bureaus.