Credit Report: Getting Mistakes Corrected

07/18/2008
Security and Protection

Your credit report is the mirror of your financial soul. It reflects your financial standing, indicates what type of credit cards you can qualify for. That is why you need to know everything what is going on in your credit file. For that you are to check it at least three times a year. Besides, it will not cost you a cent. You can get a free copy of your credit report at all three major credit bureaus once a year for free.

Why do need to know about every little change and every new information item that appears on your credit file?

The thing is that some of the information details can be inaccurate. And once a credit reporting agency enters some inaccurate information on your report, your credit score can be affected. In fact you cannot prevent this, as no one is perfect, and even credit bureaus make mistakes. But you can protect your credit from damage.

Once you find some errors in your credit report, what you should do is to dispute incorrect information. There are legal grounds you can refer to, to do it. The Fair Credit Reporting Act enables credit consumers to dispute inaccurate items on credit report. And after you claim to correct the errors on your file, credit bureaus are obliged to investigate the case within 30 days.

If you provide all necessary documentation that proves that some details on your file are erroneous, the bureaus will remove or correct this info within the same 30 days.

Here are some of the most common errors that you can find on your credit report.

• Late payment fee. You can find this kind of note on your report even if you are 100% sure that you made the payment on time. You can ask to remove this note on condition that you have your statement or cancelled checks with the cashing date on.

• Negative information. It usually stays on your credit report for up to 7 years, except for bankruptcy. So, it is in your best interests to check the on your file information for being up-to-date.
• Make sure your credit report is not mixed with another person's with a similar name.

Actually, it is next to impossible to enumerate all possible mistakes you can find on your credit report. You just need to be very careful when checking it. If you found some inaccurate information and want it to be removed, here is how you can do it.

You should write a letter to a credit reporting agency with a claim. It will be better if you attach a photo copy of our report with circled or highlighted pieces of information you want to dispute. Besides, you will need to explain the reasons for your dispute.

Remember to write your name, social security number, address, birth date, account number, and your credit card issuer's name. Putting your signature on a letter is also necessary.

After the 30 days expire you will receive a letter with a grounded decision and a copy of your credit report.

If a mistake is really slight, you can just contact your lender directly and ask them to settle the problem. The creditor will contact bureaus then and if the info is proved to be inaccurate, it will be remove from your report or corrected.

Fight for your rights and for your accurate credit report. Then you will have no problems with getting approved for best credit cards.

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