The Process of Bad Credit Report Repair and Having it Accomplished within 60 Days
The modern technology employed by the credit reporting bureaus can still cause credit report inaccuracies and erroneous entries making errors on credit reports very prevalent. Occasionally, a credit report may have something minor like an already paid debt that still appears unpaid on the report. However, there are also more serious errors such as the appearance of the debt of another person on your credit report which is probably caused by a mistake in Social Security Number. Identity theft is a worse situation to be in. Hence, it is quite essential to have a review on your credit report. Mistakes can affect your credit score largely and you should have it investigated and repaired in no time.
Four Steps for Correcting Legitimate Errors on Credit Report
If you don’t have an updated copy of your credit report, then you can request for a free credit report once each year. When discrepancies are noted, then the best thing for you to do is to have those mistakes corrected. However, you cannot eliminate court rulings, legitimate debt or liens despite what several credit services may push. The process of disputing a mistake in your credit report can be easy; but, it may take a long time to have it accomplished. However, you can get things done in just two months or 60 days.
- What you need to initially do is to contact the credit agency that have reported the error on your credit report and request the claim to be investigated. It is the obligation of the credit bureau to investigate the situation and make the necessary correction on the information. This can be settled in 30 days if their findings coincide with your claims. When one credit agency has corrected the mistake, this update will be reported to the other credit reporting companies. And when they have corrected and removed the errors, you can request for your credit report’s updated copy.
- When the investigation of the agencies doesn’t settle the issue, you can request to have a dispute statement be attached on your credit file. Also, you can request them to send such statement to those potential creditors that have asked for your credit report before the discovery of the error.
- Another way is to contact the creditor directly and file a dispute. The letter should also include copies of supporting documents like states that reflect payment history, copy of credit card statements or those from the bank. These documents will prove your payments and others.
- Furthermore, you have to keep the copies of the paid-in-full statements in order to show the potential creditor that a certain debt has been settled in a timely manner and is paid in full. You can present this even if this is not shown on your credit report. Though this won’t raise your credit score, but these statements will help you pass a background check on rental credit or be approved of a loan.
It surely takes time as well as patience when you attempt to repair credit reports, but don’t worry since this will all pay off later on. Having the errors fixed will improve your credit score and also increase your financing opportunities.