Your credit report includes all of the detailed information that your credit score is based on. Any bank accounts, credit card accounts, utility accounts, mortgages, student loans, line of credits, or installment loans which have been taken out in your name may appear on your credit report; as well as, any outstanding monetary judgments, tax-leans, or bankruptcy filings. It's important that this information be accurate since it's the information that your credit score is based on. But what happens when there are mistakes in your credit report?
It's not unheard of for anyone to find errors in their credit report for a variety of reasons. Identity theft or plain misinformation can attribute any number of errors to your credit history. If that happens to you, you are allowed to dispute any inaccurate information with the credit bureau and get it removed from your credit report. Under law, both the credit bureau and the information provider are responsible for correcting any inaccurate information. They also must investigate any disputes within 30 days and notify you of a resolution.
In order to dispute an error in your credit report, it's advisable to send a letter to the consumer credit bureau (or bureaus, if more than one report is inaccurate) and notify them in writing of the erroneous information. In your letter, you should identify the item or items you dispute, explain your position, and request that the information be removed or corrected. It helps to include copies of any documents that support your dispute, such as letters from the creditor confirming that you have paid off the account.
You should also tell the creditor or information reporter in writing that you dispute the item of information, and send them copies of your documentation. Keep copies of all your documents, whether they are letters or statements.
As mentioned earlier, by law, the credit bureaus must investigate any disputed information within 30 days. When they complete their investigation, they must also notify you in writing and send you a free copy of your report with the result. If they have deleted or changed the information, you can also request that they send notice of the correction to anyone who has received your report in the past six months or two years especially for those cases where someone has pulled your file for employment purposes.
