Your Credit Report is in Shambles, Repair It or Ignore It

A Credit Article Contributed by Mark Mcclelland

The Fundamentals of Credit Report Repair

Although repairing credit reports is not necessarily one of those things we'd volunteer to do (although there are plenty of firms out there who say they'll do it for you), it need not feel like you're undergoing a root canal procedure either. And the fact of the matter is that your credit reports will most likely require some repair at some point in your life. Forewarned is fore-armed, right?

Actually the process is quite simple, but as with most things bureaucratic, the devil is in the details, and it's indeed the details here that count.

First, you need to get copies of your credit reports - there will be three of them, one each from the three national credit reporting agencies (CRAs): Equifax, Experian (Formerly TRW) and TransUnion,

Second, you need to inspect the reports for even the tiniest of errors, and rank the errors found in importance for repair,

And third, communicate the errors that require repair to the CRAs, asking that the erroneous data be corrected or removed.

Getting Copies of Your Credit Reports

Although you'll soon be able to get free copies of your credit reports from the three CRAs - starting in December of 2004 - the initial availability of these reports will be staged out across the nation over a nine month period. Once available in your state, you'll be able to request copies of your credit report once every 12 months through a "centralized source" that the CRAs will implement, providing access via telephone, the mail, and a web site.

Until this centralized source becomes available in your state, you must contact each of the three CRAs individually, pay a fee, and they'll send you a copy of your credit report.

Inspecting Your Credit Reports for Erroneous Data and Repair

After receiving your credit reports, you'll have to get the "secret decoder handbook" from each of the CRAs, since they each format and code their data differently. Once in hand, you'll be able to decipher and interpret the contents of your reports, and inspect them for errors that actually require repair. The implication here is that it's not necessarily the case that absolutely all errors actually require repair.

Of course, those that are likely to affect your credit rating certainly are, but, again, this need not be all of them. So, rank the errors found in terms of their importance, and deal with the most egregious ones first.

Asking the Cras to Repair Your Credit Reports

After identifying and ranking the errors in your credit reports, you have to ask the CRAs to repair and / or remove the erroneous data. The reason you have to ask them to do this, rather than telling them, that, right or wrong, correct or incorrect, regardless of your feelings, it's actually their data, not yours. It may be about you, but it's their data.

So, write them a letter, providing your full name, Social Security Number (don't worry, they already know it), your current address, and a description of the error(s) found. Be polite, but firm, in your notification letter. They are, in fact, obliged to work with you to try to resolve your legitimate concerns, and there are quite a few sample letters, covering a number of different circumstances, available for your use on the internet. Happy hunting.