How to Clean Up your Credit Report
If like many you have found yourself in the situation where you have an adverse credit history it may be possible to clean up your credit report. The importance of a clean (or at least less adverse) credit report cannot be overstressed in today’s financial climate.
Your ability to gain credit and how much you will be charged are directly related to how your credit rating is perceived by the various lenders. Late payments, missed payments and other negative items on your credit file will all count against you when the lenders are making a decision on whether to advance funds and at what rates. Even if your credit rating is good, a cleanup of your credit report periodically won’t hurt.
The first step to clean up your credit history is to obtain a credit report from a credit reference agency, for details on how to obtain one for FREE follow the links at the bottom of the page.
Once you have obtained your credit report, spend some time going through the contents and check each item carefully. If you discover errors in one or more of your credit accounts, or references to late payments or other negative issues that lower your credit scores, take notes and document any contentious items. The good news is that credit report errors can be fixed, and it’s possible to remove many correct negative items too, the bad news is that it does take time.
The next step is to make a copy of your credit report and circle every item you believe is incorrect. Once completed write a letter to the reporting agency (the address will be on the report), explain each dispute and request an investigation to resolve the issues which you have found. If you have documentation supporting your issues, send it along, remembering to code pages to match dispute items. Important – do not send your originals.
Send all materials by certified mail, return receipt requested, so that you can prove the packet was received.
At the same time, send a similar dispute letter to the creditor whose reporting statements you disagree with. Remember to refer to a billing statement to find the correct address for disputes -normally it’s different from the payment address. Do this for each incorrect item/credit company.
If your dispute involves personal information, such as your current address, current employer or similar, enclose a copy of some co-oberating documentation such as a driver’s license, payslip or a utility bill in your name to verify your residence or other relevant detail.
The reporting agency will initiate an investigation, contacting your creditors to verify the accuracy or otherwise of the information in the credit report and your letter. If the creditor cannot verify that their entry is correct, it must be removed.
When the investigation is complete, the agency must send you a free copy of your report if changes were made. If the investigation uncovers an error, you have the right to ask that a corrected version of your credit report be sent to everyone who received the report during the past six months.
Tip:
Contact your creditor first, allow a bit of lead time before you submit the dispute to the report
Click here for a FREE Credit Report