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Your credit score is important for a number of reasons. It can help you get more affordable loans, help you get approved as a renter and make it far easier to get a mortgage. But while your score provides a small snapshot of your overall credit health, your credit report provides the whole story.
And while these reports are generally correct and include accurate information, there are some issues that could arise. If there is an error, it could be wrongfully hurting your credit and costing you a lot of money. Thankfully, it is possible to dispute and potentially get rid of these errors.
Without any further ado, let’s go over how to dispute errors on your credit report to ensure your credit isn’t worse than it should be.
Find and Identify the Errors
The first step is to actually find and identify the errors. If you feel your score is lower than it should be, an error could be to blame and you should investigate. In order to do this, you will need to get a copy of your credit report from one of the credit bureaus. Your report will include a lot of information including all of your credit accounts, personal information, and a lengthy history of your credit.
You may need to sift through everything until you find the problem or error. This can be exhausting, but well worth it to identify the issue that is wrongfully impacting your credit.
Gather Materials and Evidence
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Once you have identified the error, it is important to gather the appropriate evidence to support your claim. Credit bureaus or companies aren’t simply going to take your word for it, and you are going to need to prove an error has occurred.
The types of things you should gather include billing statements about the account in question, proof of payment, or a police report if the error is due to identity theft. Also, you may need things like your driver’s license, bank statements, addresses, or other types of personal information.
Reach Out to the Culprit
Once you have the evidence of the error, the first place to reach out to should be to the company or organization that provided the incorrect information. This is often a bank or utility company, but could really be anyone. Ask them to verify their records and confirm the right amounts.
If they confirm the error, the issue could be dealt with immediately and without much issue. You can eliminate this issue before reaching out to the bureaus themselves. It is a good idea and will save a lot of time. Unfortunately, the issue won’t always be resolved, especially if you have a lack of proof.
Dispute With Credit Bureau
If you have no luck there, your next task will be to actually file the dispute with the credit bureau. You should prepare a dispute letter that provides details of the error, your personal information. And also specific information about the account in question.
Once completed, either submit the letter online or send one physically through the mail. Be sure to include everything you want the bureau to see in the letter or email. Including copies of proof and supporting documents.
While you can do this on your own, there are also companies and pieces of software that can help you with these dispute letters and give you the best chance of success. From here an investigation will take place and your dispute will either accept and deal with or denied.
We hope that this guide has helped you learn just how you can go about disputing errors on your credit report.
