Ordering Your Credit Reports
First of all, you really need to check your credit reports from each of the Consumer Reporting Agencies every year. I find that it is easiest to do once every four months. Since you can only get one free copy of your credit report each year, request one from each entity once every four months. This makes it easy to spot mistakes!
Your credit report is a record of how you’ve managed credit accounts, including credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, and personal loans. Some types of accounts – such as medical debt or utility accounts – are not usually reported unless those bills go to collections. However, as I noted yesterday, utility companies are being encouraged by the credit bureaus to begin reporting late payments, too!
Disputing an Error
Each credit reporting agency keeps its own credit file on you, and they don’t share. So, it is imperative to check these every year, and, yes, if you find an error on one you will have to check for that error on each other report you request!
There are mistakes made every day on credit reports by companies typing in the wrong Social Security number, the wrong name, or even the wrong address, so check those reports very carefully.
There reports are only “compiled” when someone (you or a lender or creditor) requests one.
Always use the same name when applying for credit to minimize errors, too.
Correcting Your Credit Report
You may see an inquiry from a creditor you don’t recognize. That company may have selected you as a potential customer, and the credit reporting bureau submitted your report to them. Perfectly legal, but it will show up whether or not you were seeking to do business with that company.
Also, you may have paid off a collection debt or judgment, and it is still there. Well, under federal law it can be reported for up to seven years and six months from the date you fell behind with the original creditor, regardless of whether it has been paid. Regardless, a paid collection should also be noted as paid.
If you have determined that an entry is wrong, you can dispute it by contact the lender or collection agency reporting the wrong information. You will want to contact the credit reporting agency listing the error as well. Asking the creditor to fix the error is easiest, but they may not cooperate with you. If they do agree to assist you with the dispute, they will be required to send the corrected information to all the agencies to whom they report.
That helps, but again, they may not want to do that. Then you need to work with the credit bureau to straighten it out.
Here is how to fix errors with the credit bureaus, Make sure that you ordered your reports online because then you will have the option of disputing it online or by mail.
Credit reporting agencies and creditors who receive a credit dispute are required by law to investigate a dispute and report the results of their investigation back to the consumer within 30 days, in most situations.
If you have ordered your credit report through AnnualCreditReport.com or another credit report service you will be provided with instructions for how to dispute a mistake.
Equifax dispute: Equifax has a form for initiating a credit report dispute on their website at Equifax.com.
Experian dispute: You will find instructions for filing a dispute or checking on an existing one at Experian.com.
TransUnion dispute: Visit the TransUnion website for filing a consumer dispute if you think the informiationon that credit report is wrong.
Well, there you have it! There is a lot of information here, but this is well worth doing before you decide you want to buy a home and are disappointed that you can’t or you won’t qualify for a loan amount you want!
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