The next section in your credit report is likely a summary of all of your accounts. This is a kind of scorecard that compiles all of the different items in your report so that you and your potential lenders can review them with a quick glance. This section is particularly helpful when you are trying to determine the differences between the major credit-reporting companies. If you view your credit report online, you can usually click on portions of the summary to drill down to the data underneath. The summary will typically show you the following items:

• Total Accounts. A count of all accounts that have ever shown up on that credit report. The accounts may currently be open or closed.

• Type of Account. The categories you might see are Mortgage, Revolving, Installment, Auto Loan, or Other.

• Open and Closed Accounts. A count of how many accounts are open or closed. While the Total Accounts section does not distinguish whether or not you've closed the accounts, this section breaks it down. Keep in mind, the accounts must be reported as closed by the creditor.

• Accounts in Good Standing. This section shows how many of the total accounts, both open and closed, are in good standing. To be in good standing, you must have paid, or be paying, everything as agreed.

• Delinquencies. Also known as Past Due, this section shows a count of how many accounts you are currently behind on.

• Derogatory Items. Sometimes referred to as Negative Account History. These are accounts that are reporting negative information about you and damaging your credit score. These might be accounts that you were previously delinquent on, or these could be accounts that were charged off or settled.

• Total Balances. The total balances section shows how much debt you currently have. In addition, this section might be broken down by account type: mortgage, revolving, and so on.

• Total Payments. If the information is available, this section contains the total of all of your monthly payments.

• Good Standing. A count of all of your accounts that are in good standing: your total accounts minus delinquent and derogatory accounts.

• Public Records. The lower the better. It is simply a count of how many public records are in your file. Public records are explained in greater detail below.

• Inquiries. The Inquiries section shows a count of inquiries in the last twelve or twenty-four months. Again, you want a low number here. Only hard inquiries, inquiries made when you apply for a new loan, are counted here.