Fix Your Credit Report

Your credit report may not seem like much but did you know that many companies now look at it before they hire you and even loan companies check it to make sure that you are on top of your finances? Your credit report also determines a lot of your interest rates and even some payments to loan companies. Fixing your credit report is very important and you should take the time to look over it and then correct any errors that my be on there. Fixing your credit report is free but it does require a little bit of work.

I have had to fix my credit report twice; once when a creditor put wrong information on it and another time after my ID was stolen. I could sit here and list a million reasons why you should fix your credit report but there is only one reason that you should really be concerned with; most people look at your credit report to determine what kind of financial situation you are in and how you handle it.

Getting a free credit report

One a year you are allowed to obtain a free credit report. A free credit report can be obtained through many websites by doing a search on Google. I would try to locate a website that offers information to the three major credit reporting bureaus such as at http://www.annualcreditreport.com . Once you get your free credit report you are going to want to look over it for any errors that might be present.

Looking for errors to fix your credit report

I wouldn't just glance over your credit report once; I would print it out and look over it at least twice. Check everything down to the names, phone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, creditors, and everything else that you can find. It is important to check this information since you will be able to tell if someone has stolen your identity or if a creditor made a mistake while putting down your credit history.

Correcting the errors on your credit report

Once you have looked over your credit report you are going to want to write down each one that is negative or shows an error. Once you have done this you are also going to want to write down each company that reported this to the credit bearus. I would start by writing a letter to each of these companies and explain the correct information and tell them that you obtained the information off of your credit report and ask them to remove the information. The companies that are in bad standing need to be fixed as quickly as possible. A lot of times companies will allow you to make a small monthly payment to them and they will start sending in better reports instead of negative ones.

Fixing your credit report through the credit reporting agencies

While you are on the website obtaining your annual free credit report you may have noticed that there was a dispute link on the webpage. The dispute link can be used to your advantage but be warned that some information will need to be proven before it takes affect. A telephone number is something that can be taken off of your credit report easily but a negative judgment in your credit report would need to be proven. You may click on the link and enter the information into the required fields. The link will lead your through step by step so that you can easily understand and enter the information. If anything else needs to be done, the website will tell you this. The credit reporting agencies have 30 to 45 days to file this with the companies that reported the claims and the company can either dispute the action or resolve it. If the company does not give a reaction within 45 days then the reporting agency must remove the claim.

Check your credit report again

If you have had any changes to your credit report then you can request another copy to be sent to you and you should do this to make sure that all claims were taken care of. If there is still some issues with your credit report then you need to contact them again and ask that they send you a copy of the dispute for your records.

An annual free credit report should be obtained every year so that you may check your credit report for errors and frauds. Identity theft is the number one growing crime in America and unless you want to be part of the statistics then you should check your credit and do it often.