There are many reasons why you should care about your credit rating, but very few that make it worthwhile to ignore it. You’ll need to have a good score and credit history in order to buy a house or get an auto loan. You may find it difficult to get a job or rent an apartment if your credit rating is low.
You should also pay attention to your credit report. Keep an eye out for , your credit report, which is the official record of your credit history, including all accounts that you may have, any balances owed, and payments made.
Your credit report and score are closely linked. Your credit score can be affected if you have bad information on your report because of fraud or incorrect reporting. A credit report that contains only true (and positive information) can also help you to improve your credit score.
You should request a copy of your credit history from each credit bureau every year. This includes Experian Equifax and TransUnion. Fortunately, this part is easy to accomplish via AnnualCreditReport.com.
How to dispute inaccurate information on your credit reports
You’ll want all details in your report to be correct. You may notice incorrect information on your credit report.
- Name or personal information errors
- Accounts that you don’t own
- Accounts of someone with a similar name to yours
- Closed accounts reported as open
- Reporting late payments incorrectly
- Multiple accounts listed
- Accounts with incorrect balances
- Credit limits incorrectly set on accounts
The Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, requires that both the credit bureaus and the people who provide them with the information be responsible for correcting any misinformation in your credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that both the credit bureau, and the person who provided the information, work together to correct any errors on your credit report.
Here are the steps to take if you find a mistake:
Notify the credit bureau of incorrect information
You should inform the credit bureau of the error as soon as possible, but keep in mind that not all credit bureaus may have the same information. It’s best to inform them in writing about the error, and include all the details of the mistake. You can even use a sample letter from the Federal Trade Commission to get help.
Credit bureaus have 30 days in most cases to investigate your complaint and are required to respond to you. The credit bureaus are required to pass on the information that you have sent to the original provider.
Inform the person who provided the information about the error
If you have any proof that an error occurred, please send it to the company who reported the inaccurate information. Include all the details you need to support your claim, along with copies. You can also use the dispute letter provided by the FTC in this case.
Keep an eye on your credit report.
Credit reporting agencies must notify you of the outcome of your dispute in writing. You are legally entitled to a second free copy of your report if the dispute has resulted in a permanent change.
You can also ask the bureau to send any corrections made to your credit report to anyone who requested it within the past six months. You can also send an updated version to anyone who requested a modified copy of your credit report due to employment reasons.
Taking care of your credit rating
It’s important to know that incorrect information in your credit report could be damaging. If your report contains inaccurate late payments, your credit score could fall without your fault. If you find accounts that aren’t yours on your report, it could be a sign of a larger issue, like outright identity fraud.
The small amount of effort required to dispute a negative item on your report can really pay off. After all, if you can get any negative information off your credit report, it should stop impacting your score.
You should be aware that only false negative information can be removed from your credit report. If the information is true, it will remain on your credit report for a period of time. Negative information can be reported on your credit history for seven years, and bankruptcy for ten years.
Bottom line
It is possible that you may not find errors if they aren’t pointed out to you. Signing up for free services that provide updates on any new accounts opened in your name, or changes in your credit score can be helpful. CreditKarma.com, and CreditSesame.com both offer similar features with a free service. They are worth checking out.
