Have you ordered your credit report? Remember by September 1, 2005 every state will be required to allow you to one free credit report each year. If you are denied credit for any reason you are entitled a free credit report. Under any other circumstances you will have to order one.
If you have ordered your free report, have you looked through to make sure everything is correct? If it isn't then this is the article you need to read.
How to report a credit error:
Each credit bureau needs to be contacted. One bureau may have the correct information while the other two are wrong. By contacting each credit bureau you eliminate the hassle of having to do the process again when you find out that you didn't do it right the first time.
When writing to the credit bureaus, address one mistake at a time. If you report more than one mistake the credit bureaus can, legally, say you are filing a frivilous report and do nothing about it. Keep your letters down to one mistake and one mistake only. Yes, this may take some time to get through all the mistakes, but it is time well spent.
Each of the credit bureaus have PO boxes specifically set up for complaints. They change their PO box addresses often to make it harder for customes to find and complain.
The credit agency must get in contact with the creditor that is reporting the late payment/incorrect data within 30 days and either change the data, if it is incorrect, or delete the data altogether. If they don't get a response from a creditor within the 30 day period they have to delete the data. This puts trying to correct mistakes to your advantage.
Trying to straighten out your credit can be a time consuming process and you may wish to use a credit agency to help you get everything correct. As always though, let the buyer beware. Credit repair scams are everywhere and if you don't watch out you can become a victim.
Persistency pays off by getting you a better credit rating and credit score. By repairing your credit you should be able to get a credit card, home loan, auto loan, refinance, etc., that you have been looking to get and be able to get it at better interest rates. This is all good for you...Because Money Matters
About the author:
James Mercer posts articles of interest to those wanting to learn more about the financial world the runs their life Monday-Friday at
www.becausemoneymatters.blogspot.com
