How To Fix An Error On Your Credit Report

Most of us already know how important our credit rating is to us. Not only does it affect how, or even if, we get mortgages, loans and credit cards but increasingly employers are asking for credit reports on us when they are recruiting. And of course if there is adverse information on our credit report then that will count against us.

Now of course life events happen and they can have a detrimental effect on our credit rating and it is unfortunate, however these things can’t be helped. And they can be explained away if there is a genuine reason for them. But what if there is one or more entry on your credit file which shows you in a poor light but which is not correct? Do you just have to accept it or can you do something about it?

The good news is that you are entitled by law under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to file a dispute with both the credit bureau and with the company that furnished the incorrect information to the bureau. Once you do that both the credit bureau as well as the furnisher of the information are legally obliged to investigate your dispute.

Obviously if the information that you dispute is factually wrong you should press them to explain why they believe it to be true. You should also insist on receiving an explanation as to how they came to be misinformed as well. Given the seriousness of having incorrect information on your credit file it is imperative that you don’t allow yourself to be fobbed off by either the reporting agency or the company supplying the data.

The most frequent reason for there being incorrect information on file is down to a mistake in the data entry process and it can usually be cleared up in just a matter of days. You should however insist that both the company and the bureau send confirmation of the error and how it occurred in writing so you have proof should you ever need it again.

Once they have completed their investigations if you are still not satisfied with the outcome the credit bureaux are required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to let you add a statement of dispute explanation to your credit report file. This will then be available to anyone who requests a credit report on you in the future.

It is a good idea to make sure that you review your credit file on a fairly regular basis to check that all is in order. Certainly if you are planning a major purchase such as a buying a car or applying for a real estate loan you should check in advance that everything is in order. By doing your checking in plenty of time it will allow you to get any errors corrected by the bureau and allow your application to proceed smoothly. A good time frame to do this would around 45 to 90 days in advance.