6Feb/120
Checking Your Credit Report
Your credit score is one of most important numbers in your life. Lenders use your score to determine your creditworthiness. A low score means that you will pay more to borrow money. One late payment can lower your score by as much as 110 points. It is imperative that you check your credit score for accuracy at least once a year. Creditors occasionally misreport data, which can have a drastic effect on your score.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) grants Americans the right to obtain a free credit report from the three main credit reporting bureaus once a year. These yearly reports are available from AnnualCreditReport.com. You can request a report by calling 877-322-8228 or by visiting the site and filling out a form. You can also request a report any time that a company turns down your credit request, decreases your credit limit or denies you employment because of information in your credit report. Analyze your credit report and verify that the information is correct. Look closely at your name, Social Security number, current and previous addresses and your accounts and account numbers. If any of this information is wrong, either the reporting company reported the wrong information or someone might have stolen your identity. According to the FCRA, both the reporting company and the credit bureau must take responsibility for correcting any inaccurate information contained in your report. Send a letter to the credit bureau informing them of the inaccuracies in your report. Include documentation (these should be copies and not originals) of the correct information. Be sure to note each error individually and give your reasons for thinking the information is wrong. An easy way is to make a copy of the report, highlight the errors and include the disputed information on a separate piece of paper.
By law, the credit bureau must investigate your dispute. The investigation typically takes 30 days or less. If the bureau considers your dispute to be frivolous, it does not have to investigate your claim. The bureau will send your information to your creditor, which must then investigate your dispute. If the creditor finds your dispute to be valid, it must notify all three credit bureaus, which must then correct your credit report. If your creditor corrects the errors, you can request that the company send the changes to anyone that requested your credit report within the last six months or two years if the report was for an employer. If the creditor does not correct the errors, you can request that the credit bureau includes a statement on future reports saying that you disputed the information. You can also dispute errors directly with the creditor. Contact the creditor to ask for the address to send the dispute to, as it could be different from the payment address. Include copies of your documentation with your dispute. Creditors that report to a credit bureau must notify the bureau of your dispute. When the creditor verifies that your information is correct, it must stop reporting the error to the credit bureau. If you know that you are going to apply for a <a href="http://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/providers/tesco/">Tesco credit card</a> or any other type of credit, you should consider obtaining your credit reports before completing the application. This gives you the opportunity to correct any errors that might cause a creditor to deny your application. Careful monitoring of your credit report is essential in maintaining a good credit score.
[tags]Credit Report, Credit Score, Repair Credit[/tags]