Taking care of problems with your credit reports
Problems with credit reports are more common than most of us might think. In fact, it should make your nervous enough to review your own credit reports if you haven't done so recently. There are three different credit reporting bureaus and they will send you a full report once a year at no charge. Even if you have to pay for them though it is going to save you money in the overall scheme of things.
There are many reasons why information on credit reports isn't accurate. In most cases it has to do with lenders not doing their part with getting the updated information turned in. They may gladly take your money to pay off an account but then fall through with reporting that information timely. Data entry problems from employees can also be factored into this equation of problems.
Identity theft is a huge problem in our society, and one you need to carefully guard yourself against. Identifying accounts you didn't open on your credit reports is one of the main ways to find out this is taking place. Those lenders that look at your credit report though are going to assume they are your accounts until you get the situation resolved.
The best way to make sure there aren't any errors on your credit report is to evaluate them regularly. Make sure you look over your reported information from all three of the reporting agencies. Sometimes a mistake is on all of them and other times it is just on one of them. It can take a very long time to get these issues resolved so the sooner you can get the process started the better.
It is going to take time for you to go over all of this information. Carve out several hours to look at the accounts that are on each one. You need to verify they are yours, the balances are correct, the payment history is correct, and read any notes on the accounts. If you find mistakes or things you aren't familiar with make sure you mark them for further evaluation.
There is a dispute form that each of the three credit bureaus use. You can easily download it from the internet and print it out. It is best to write a short but detailed letter about the error, why you dispute it, and discussing the evidence you have to verify it. Make sure your letter has all of your contact information on it as well.
Take your time to gather the information you need. This way you can provide the credit bureaus with all the information. Always make copies of everything to send to them so you can hang on the originals. You want to submit a letter, your credit report with the errors marked, their form for reporting a dispute, and your verifications. Always send by a method of mail that ensures you have verification they received your materials too.
It is to your advantage to keep a close eye on your credit report. You should be able to apply for credit and not have to worry about what is going to come up. Yet too many people only discover there are errors on their credit report when they get turned down for a loan. It can be devastating to not get the home or the car you want due to these problems needing to be ironed out first.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
Robert Bain is fascinated by the secret credit industry. He follows personal credit related issues such as credit cards, debt relief, home owners loans, secured personal loan and scams.
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by: RobertBain
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