Fixing Your Credit Report

You have been reading about credit reports and found that monitoring your credit report at least once a year is a good idea. You have requested your free credit report and found that it has some wrong information. You know this information will affect you in a negative way and you may be denied a loan or be assigned a higher interest rate. You want to get the information corrected but do not know how to do that. What do you do? Do not apply for a loan until you get the information corrected.

To get your free credit report corrected follow these simple steps then go back and get your loan at the rates that are best for you.

To get the best results in correcting erroneous information is to approach the problem from two directions. Contact the credit reporting agencies and also contact the creditor that reported the erroneous information.

The first thing you need to know is just exactly, what is wrong. Get the most recent free credit report available and verify the information that is wrong. Next, you must gather all the evidence you can to prove the information is incorrect. Make copies of all related information because you may have to attempt to fix the problem several times and this will save time in that event and will enable you to keep the original documents.

Send a letter to the credit agencies and include all supporting documents and instructions as to how the report should be corrected. Include you full name, address, date of birth and Social Security Number. Any previous names or addresses you have used should also be included. List the creditor's name, account number, when it was opened, what is wrong, and how to fix the report. Make sure you mention the supporting documents you are including with the request.

Send the letter registered mail. The credit-reporting bureau must investigate all claims to correct a credit report unless they are frivolous requests. They must investigate within thirty (30) days and let you know the results of the investigation. It is also wise to contact the creditor who has reported wrong information. Send them the same information you sent to the credit reporting bureau asking them to correct the information from their end. This is the double pronged approach and seems to work best in getting corrections made. Give time for the corrections to have been made and check your free credit report again to see what the status is. This will help avoid the same problem again.

It is important to use your free credit report often because errors can get in your credit file as a result of typographical errors, Social Security Numbers may have gotten jumbled and you got something in your file, an ex-spouse may be causing problems or you may have been the victim of identity theft.