My wife and I used to be apartment managers. The free rent was great, but one of the things I had to learn how do was read a credit report. I'm not talking about the reports from FreeCreditReport.com, with fancy graphs and charts, but the type that a credit bureau might fax to your bank's lending officer — it's all text, and it looks like it's written in a foreign language. After about an hour looking on the web, I found a handy guide that tells how to decipher the codes sprinkled throughout your credit report. To save you the hassle, I'm recreating it here.

Your task is to locate and deal with all the negative items on your credit report. Determine which category each item falls into by using the key below:

• 0 = Too recently opened to rate
• 1 = Current, Paid as agreed
• 2 = 30 days past due
• 3 = 60 days past due
• 4 = 90 days past due
• 5 = 120 days past due
• 6 = 150 days past due
• 7 = Account is under a bankruptcy or wage earner payment plan
• 8 = Foreclosure or repossession
• 9 = Charge off account or collection account
• U = Unrated
• O = Open (Open at least 30 days)
• R = Revolving (Has periodic payments and a preset spending limit - e.g. credit cards)
• I = Installment (Has periodic payments and does not permit continued spending - e.g. mortgages or car loans)
• M = Mortgage
• C = Line of credit 

The number and letter codes are combined to specify different account types. For example, O1 is an open account in good standing, while a R5 is a credit card account 120 days past due. Make sure to check the accuracy of any negative item (ending with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9) and correct it if it's inaccurate. I'll write more later about how to fix your credit report.