Credit Report Repair in Three Easy Steps
A Credit Article Contributed by Mark Mcclelland
It's Not Really That Difficult to Repair Your Credit Reports
Repairing your credit reports is not really all that difficult or complicated; it just seems like it when you have to deal with the large companies... and no one ever accused the three national credit reporting agencies or being small, or easy to deal with when trying to repair one's reports. However, to give them their fair due, they are - of late - making an effort to become more accessible. But be that as it may, there are really only a very few steps you need to take to repair errors in your credit reports:
1) get your credit report data,
2) inspect the data for any errors that might require repair and raking them according to importance, and
3) communicating those errors to the credit reporting agencies, asking that they be repaired or removed.
Who are the Credit Reporting Agencies, and Inspecting Your Reports for Items That Might Need Repair
Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax are the three national credit reporting agencies that collect - and sell - financial consumer data. Let's be clear on this: selling data is their business, not correcting mistakes. Even though they do, as you, have an interest in seeing that the data they sell is accurate. You'll also need a copy of each agency's specific scoring factors and the key to their credit report, all of which are easily available online.
Once you've decoded and inspected your report for errors, rank those found in terms of their importance. Although not all errors will be critical, if history is any guide the odds are that some will be.
Communicating Errors to the Agencies and What to Do If Your Credit Reports Aren't Repaired
Ready to write, right? Wrong. First a few helpful hints:
1) Notwithstanding hint #2, all personal data errors should be handled first, and all at once.
2) Each of the erroneous items to be repaired should be dealt with individually, making sure that one error is completely resolved before moving on to the next.
3) Some of the errors might occur in more than one of the reports, so it'll benefit you to send identical letters to all three agencies, whether or not the error actually occurs in their report.
4) When disputing addresses, dispute the oldest one first, moving through the list towards your current address.
5) Make sure your letters to the agencies are clear in the fact that the completeness or accuracy of the data they're reporting is being disputed or challenged - use these words in your letters. Simply stating that you've found an error, or explaining why something happened, might not constitute a dispute, and thus would not obligate the agency to take any action.
And what do you do if one or more of your requests are denied? First off, don't give in. Upon inspection, the agencies are required to remove or correct any misleading, outdated, erroneous, incorrect, or inaccurate data they're reporting. But after you've written several letters concerning a specific error to no avail, you might consider filing a complaint with the FTC and retaining an attorney as this might subject the agency to legal liability.
Although this sounds ominous, and should be your action of last recourse, don't let it deter you from clearing up your good name... your financial future will thank you for it.
