How Do You Fix an Error on Your Credit Report?
Many people go through life, using credit cards and buying items with other forms of credit, thinking that whatever the credit bureaus say is what’s truth. Then, there are people who never give the credit bureaus any credit(no pun intended), believing that they are always right and the system is always wrong. To be honest, neither of these parties are completely correct.
However, neither of them are completely wrong. Believe it or not, the credit bureaus, though they do their job relatively well, sometimes make mistakes. These mistakes often show up on your credit report, which reflects your entire credit history, your payment history, the mistakes and the improvements you’ve made, and sometimes, even mistakes that are not even your fault. In the case that your credit report shows something counting against you that you really are not accountable for, of course you want to correct this mistake, but how?
1. Find the Mistakes
You want to be sure that you have nothing on your report that does not honestly belong there. The first thing you have to do to fix those mistakes is to find them. Copy your credit report and, on the copy, highlight the items that you do not believe are correct. This will help you to present those mistakes to the credit bureaus.
2. Bring it Up
The credit bureaus, though they are probably doing the best job they can, do not have time to call in every once in a while and ask how your credit report is looking. You have to notify them in order to sufficiently get the attention you want. Nothing will be done about the errors if you do not make them known to all three of the major credit reporting agencies.
3. Prove it
Make sure that you have proof of that whatever is on your credit report is not rightfully charged to you. If you call in with a complaint, and not a detailed argument that entails proof, the process will take a lot longer, and you may end up keeping the mistakes on your credit report, whether you feel they belong there or not. Make sure that you have documented proof of and that you can back up the argument you are presenting.
4. Be Persistent
There are so many people with complaints, and so many other things that credit reporting agencies have to deal with, that even if you report your complaint to them, they may not follow through as quickly as you had hoped. If you do not see any changes within an appropriate time period, make sure you call them again and find out what progress has been made on the correction and what you need to do to further that progress. You cannot sit quietly and assume that what you have done is enough if you have not persistently inquired about your report.
People, and credit bureaus, make mistakes. It is up to us to fix the mistakes that reflect on us. Know how to do it, get it done, and get on with life.
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