Balances and payments · Free practice
How to Compare a Payment History Grid With Statements
One useful skill to practice.
Each grid cell is one month of what the furnisher reported. How to map a single cell to a single statement and decide if you have a real discrepancy.
Read the full guide on CheckDispute Guides (opens a new tab)Check what you know.
3 questions. No sign-up. Your answers stay in this page.
What is the right unit for checking a payment history grid?
Review all questions and explanations
- What is the right unit for checking a payment history grid?
Answer: One cell at a time — one reported month against the statement covering that period and your payment record for it
Each cell is one month of what the furnisher reported. A matching cell settles that cell only, and a mismatching one gives you a specific month to describe.
- One bureau's report shows a month that another bureau's does not. What is the likely explanation?
Answer: Each bureau draws from different sources, and creditors are not required to report to every bureau — check the furnisher's records before calling it an error
The FTC explains that each nationwide bureau gets its information from different sources, so reports can differ legitimately. Absence is a question about furnishing before it is a question about accuracy.
- Can accurate payment history be removed from a credit report?
Answer: No — a report can only be fixed where it contains errors, and disputing is free
The CFPB states no one has the right to remove accurate negative information. Errors are disputable; accurate history, including positive history after payoff, may be reported.
Your take-away checklist
- Record the account as printed: creditor name, account number, report page and report date.
- Find the legend printed on your own copy of the report and note what each mark means there.
- Pick one month to check first — the cell you suspect — and write down what it says.
- Pull the statement covering that period; record the due date and minimum due.
- Pull your payment record for that month; record the amount and the posting date.
- Compare all three and write one sentence: what the cell says, what your records show.
- Repeat for each remaining suspect cell — one cell at a time, never the whole grid at once.
- Note any month present on one bureau's report but absent from another's.
Read the source, keep the context.
Original questions and worked examples from CheckDispute, checked against the full guide and primary sources below. Use the explanations to understand what each record does and does not establish.
- consumerfinance.gov: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-a-credit-report-en-309/
- consumerfinance.gov: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/is-it-possible-to-remove-accurate-negative-information-from-my-credit-report-en-1249/
- consumerfinance.gov: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-long-does-information-stay-on-my-credit-report-en-323/
- consumer.ftc.gov: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/understanding-your-credit
- ecfr.gov: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-12/chapter-X/part-1022/subpart-E/section-1022.43
General education, not personalized legal advice. You can dispute errors directly for free. A practice score does not predict a credit or dispute result.