The Federal Trade Commission provides valuable information on how to improve your credit score. As your credit score is the benchmark lenders, investors, employers and service providers use to assess your reliability as a customer, it is kind of important to make sure your credit score is in good health. In our previous article we discussed how it is a legal right to check your credit score for free with each of the national credit reporting agencies once a year, if you are unemployed, on welfare, feel you are the victim of identity theft or have the suspicion the information on your credit report is not accurate. So let us assume you are smart and have requested your free credit report, what now?

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the first step you should take is to check if the information on your credit report is accurate. If it is accurate, there is not much you can do. You cannot delete accurate data from a credit report legally. However, you may find solace in the fact that credit scores focus more on your latest credit score reporting steps than the black spots in your distant past. Although missing mortgage or other loan payments will always be somewhere on your credit history file, the credit reporting agencies focus more on the more recent events of your financial life than with the black spots in your report which are now ancient history. Back to our point. You can only find out if your credit history and report are accurate if you check it.

If you do find inaccuracies in your credit report, you have the right to contact the relevant consumer reporting agency in writing and explain where the mistake is and what is the correct information. Make sure you provide accurate information and keep a record of your meetings with the reporting agencies. A main reporting tool against incompetence in the credit history industry is to send a dispute letter.

Dispute Letters

Dispute letters have the following sample format. This format was provided by the Federal Trade Commission.

Sample Dispute Letter

Date
Your Name
Your Address,
City, State, Zip Code

Complaint Department
Name of Company
Address
City, State, Zip Code

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing to dispute the following information in my file. The items I dispute also are encircled on the attached copy of the report I received.

This item (identify item(s) disputed by name of source, such as creditors or tax court, and identify type of item, such as credit account, judgment, etc.) is (inaccurate or incomplete) because (describe what is inaccurate or incomplete and why). I am requesting that the item be deleted (or request another specific change) to correct the information.

Enclosed are copies of (use this sentence if applicable and describe any enclosed documentation, such as payment records, court documents) supporting my position. Please investigate this (these) matter(s) and (delete or correct) the disputed item(s) as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Your name

Enclosures: (List what you are enclosing.)

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.