Dispute My Credit Report

I recently pulled the credit report of a client who had gone through a divorce.  To her dismay, the credit bureaus had mistakenly reported several of her ex-husband’s derrogatory accounts on her credit report.  As a result, her credit was about 50-60 points lower than it should have been. 

Unfortunately, this is an all too common problem.  The information on your credit report directly influences whether or not you can qualify for a loan so if there are errors being reported against you, it is best to have the mistakes corrected before you apply for a loan or credit card.

The first step is to get a copy of your credit report.  A recent amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act has required the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and Trans Union) to provide you a free copy of your report, once every twelve months at your request.  You can retrieve a free copy of your credit report by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com or calling 877-322-8228.

Once you receive your report, it is important to take note of the score.  Each credit bureau assigns a number to your credit between the range of 450-850.  The higher the number, the better your credit rating.  The body of the credit report will list all of the creditors you have, past and present.    Study this very closely to make sure that the creditors have been reporting everything correctly.  Note any late payments, errors in balances due, etc. The first step in disputing your credit report is to contact the credit bureaus in writing which accounts are reporting incorrectly.  It is helpful to include copies of documents that support your claim.  In addition to providing your name, address and social security number, it is important to identify each item clearly that you wish to dispute, including the appropriate account numbers. Once the credit bureaus receive your dispute request, they have thirty days to investigate your claim.  They also must forward all the relevant data you provide about the inaccuracy to the creditor that provided the information.  The creditor must then conduct an investigation of their own to verify the error and report their results back to the credit bureau.  If the information is found to be inaccurate, all three credit bureaus must update the corrections.  If an investigation doesn’t resolve your dispute, you can ask that a statement of your dispute be included in your file and on all future reports. It can also be beneficial to contact the creditor who is mistakenly reporting against you, directly.  As with the credit bureaus, write a letter of dispute and include your information as well as the account information and copies of any documents you have to support your position.  When negative information is accurate on your report, only time can ensure its removal.  The credit bureaus can report accurate negative information for seven years and bankruptcy information for ten years.