A clean credit report is essential to your financial livelihood. Whether you’re buying a house or you’re simply looking for a credit card with better interest rates, you’ll want to make sure your credit report makes you look good.
But what happens if you find errors on your credit report? What if a bill you paid off three years ago is still listed as past due? What if there are reports of accounts you’ve never opened? Do you need to hire an attorney or credit repair service at a time like this? Not just yet.
Credit report disputing can be a do-it-yourself project, made legal by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA allows you to contact the credit bureau yourself to request changes be made to your credit report. When you make a dispute, the credit bureau is required to verify with your creditors (people you owe money to) that the information on your credit report is indeed accurate. If the creditor can’t prove you owe them money, you have the right to request that the credit bureau remove that information.
The Truly Free Credit Report
You have the right to receive a free copy of your credit report from each credit reporting bureau once every year at no cost. You can also obtain additional reports at no cost if you’re denied credit, a bank account, or a job based on your credit report. You also have the right to receive additional reports at no cost if you believe you’ve been the victim of identity theft. If you have recently disputed information or requested changes to your credit report with a credit reporting bureau, you have the right to receive a free copy of the report reflecting these deletions or changes.
If you already have credit problems, you’ll probably want to obtain a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies at least once a year to verify that your credit report contains no errors.
Even if you don’t have credit problems, it’s a good idea to check your credit report each year. Identity theft is becoming a more prevalent problem all the time, and checking your credit report regularly for errors and false information is one of the best ways to catch identity theft early.
You can get a completely free copy of your credit report (no phony free trials or hidden fees) once each year from each of the three main credit reporting agencies at https://www.annualcreditreport.com.
The Do-It-Yourself Dispute
If you find an error on your credit report, you’ll want to make the dispute in writing to the credit bureau whose report contains the error. All three major credit bureaus don’t always have the same information, so you’ll want to make sure to check all three and write the same letter to each bureau if necessary.
Your letter should:
- Include your full name and address.
- Identify which items you are disputing and attach a copy of the credit report with disputed items circled.
- Explain why you are disputing these items.
- Specifically request whether you want these items deleted or corrected.
- Include copies of any supporting documents. For example, if your report says you did not pay a bill, you may want to send a copy of the check you used to pay the bill.
Make a copy of your letter and all supporting documents for your own files before you send it. You can find the proper address to which you should mail your letter by visiting the appropriate credit reporting bureau’s website. See http://www.equifax.com, http://www.experian.com, and/or http://www.transunion.com.
The Last Straw: Hiring Legal Help
Sometimes, the credit bureaus don’t cooperate. They’re not always bright cheery folks who go out of their way to make sure your credit report reflects the true you, even though that’s their job. If they refuse to delete or correct an error, you might want to consider hiring legal help.
Credit repair services can be shady, and many of them will charge you a lot of money to do very little, with no guarantee of a positive end result. Your better bet is to hire an attorney who specializes in credit repair.
Still, hiring an attorney may only be worth your while if the inaccurate debt listed on your report is detrimental to your current financial situation. Find one who offers a free consultation so you can assess what you’ll be getting before you give him your hard-earned bucks.
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