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Your credit score is a reflection of all information contained
in your credit report, and according to financial experts more
than half of credit files have errors, incomplete and inaccurate
information.
Changing information on your credit report may prove to be a
lengthy, difficult, and often frustrating process, but it is well
worth the effort if at the end you can have "clean"
credit report without any negative information affecting your
score.
Deal with credit bureaus in writing.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, both the credit bureaus
and the information provider (the a person, bank, company, credit
union, or organization that provides information about you to
a credit report agency) are responsible for correcting inaccurate\incomplete
information in your credit report. In order
to take advantage of your rights under the Act you have to contact
reporting agency(and the information provider). The best way to
do this is in writing.
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When writing to the credit reporting agency:
- Provide complete name, address and social security number
and include a copy of a utility bill to verify your address
- State exactly what information is incorrect; include copies
of documents that support your position, and provide facts that
explain why you dispute the information
- Keep copies of all correspondence with credit bureaus.
By the law consumer reporting agencies must investigate disputed
information, usually within 30 days They also must forward all
the relevant information that you provided about the inaccuracies
to the organization which provided the information.
When the company that provided inaccurate information finds that
it is in fact inaccurate, it must notify all three nationwide
consumer reporting agencies so they can correct your credit file.
Once the investigation is complete, the credit bureau must give
you the and a free copy of your credit report if the dispute resulted
in a change of your credit file. (This free report does
not count as your annual free report under
the FACT Act.) .
If requested by you, the credit reporting agency must send notices
of any correction to anyone who received your report in the past
six months( two years for employment purposes).
If a credit bureau's investigation doesn't resolve your dispute
you can request that a statement of the dispute be included in
your credit file and in you future credit reports.
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