Disputing Credit Reports--What You Need to Know
Provided by http://www.nationalcreditrepair.info
Managing credit often becomes complicated when details are lost,
confused, unknown or when there are disputes on personal credit
reports. Many times there will be errors with purchases or
credit records. Other times, you may be dealing with fraud from
information being stolen and used by someone else. No matter
what the error, the Credit Bureau can offer tips, information
and help for credit reports that don't have the right
information.
There are three major Credit Bureaus that provide reports to
individuals so they know what their credit standing is. These
are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can request a credit
report every six months for free to make sure there are no
errors and that identity fraud is not occurring; otherwise you
will have to pay a small fee to access your report.
If you notice that your credit report is inaccurate, then you
have the right to dispute inaccuracies. There are three ways to
dispute information in your credit report, including online, by
telephone or through mail. It is important to note the
confirmation number of the report first sent to you. If you
don't have a confirmation number it means that the credit file
is compiled by an affiliate or you have purchased your credit
report through a reseller. If you have an affiliate, a dispute
can be made through the credit bureau which will also have your
credit file. If you have gone through a reseller, you will have
to get another credit report from one of the three companies
listed above.
Once you have the credit report, simply review the report for
inaccuracies and those entries that are not valid may be
disputed. With everything that you claim is incorrect and
dispute, you must give a reason why you believe the information
is false. You can dispute information by mail or online. If you
are disputing a credit item online, be assured security measures
are always taken. These are known as Secure Socket Layers and
have codes in order for you to be able to provide the proper
information without it being lost or stolen online.
After making a dispute with the Credit Bureau, an investigation
will begin of your credit report. Whichever bureau you go
through will collect and organize information from several
different resources, including records, historical information,
and sources, such as your bank and information from the company
the supposed false information is with. After the investigation
is completed, the Credit Bureau will send you a confirmation
which you can view online. This will contain the results of
their investigation. The full time allotted for any of these
disputes is a maximum of thirty days. It is always possible to
check the status of the investigation at any time during the
process. If you have disputed your credit by phone or mail, the
results will be mailed to you after thirty days.
If you are not satisfied with the conclusions the Credit Bureau
has made regarding your report you may make a consumer statement
about the part of your credit that you are not satisfied with.
This additional explanation will help your credit if the report
does not clear and comes back in the future. The information
will also be reviewed a second time to be sure that the
investigation was accurate. Many people who have incorrect
information on their report will also use credit repair
companies to remove inaccurate information. It is important to
look into these companies first, as many provide false
information to customers and may not be able to fix the
inaccurate information as claimed.
As with anything, mistakes will inevitably happen and this
applies to credit reports from the three major credit bureaus as
well. Additionally, fraud will occur too, however if you are the
victim of fraud or a simple credit bureau mistake regarding your
credit information there are methods in place that will allow
you to have the information corrected.