There are several methods that can be used to improve your credit score but the method that gets the biggest bang for the buck is the credit report dispute. Credit report disputes are effective because they often lead to the most damaging information on your credit report being removed entirely from your credit report.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that both the consumer reporting agency and the organization that supplies the credit information such as a credit card company, bank or other credit grantor are responsible for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in your credit report. The Federal Trade Commission recommends that consumers contact both the CRA and the information provider. However, since your credit score is based on the information in your credit report it is simply faster and easier to make a credit report dispute directly with the credit reporting agency.
The credit reporting agencies must investigate the items that you question or dispute in your credit report, usually within 30 days, unless they consider the request to be frivolous. Now it would be easy if your credit score is damaged by a delinquent account that is clearly not your account.
However, credit report disputes are not limited to correcting the wrong account or completely inaccurate payment histories that are bringing your score down. Credit report disputes can involve the wrong amount owed, the current balance, individual payment discrepancies and similar errors involving an account under your name. The key to these credit report disputes is not having the individual inaccuracy corrected, which can help your credit profile and credit score, but having the whole account removed based on the failure of the credit reporting agency to validate any of the information.
That’s right. The credit reporting agency is required to investigate your credit report disputes unless they are frivolous. If you think the data is wrong, it is hard to conclude that is frivolous. So you have the right to request the credit reporting agency investigate the delinquent payment history on your credit card or the unpaid balance on a collection account that you believe are inaccurate. If the creditor does not provide content that verifies the information that is in your credit report, the credit reporting agency will remove the account information.
For example, if your credit report showed that you were late making some payments but in fact you were late on fewer payments than are indicated, the credit reporting agency must update the payment history. If your credit report shows an account that is delinquent with an open balance that was in fact paid, the credit reporting agency must update the balance records.
Once a credit reporting agency receives a credit report dispute letter or the credit report dispute is performed online, they will forward all relevant data regarding the dispute to the creditor or information provider. The creditor or information provider must investigate the information provided by the credit reporting agency and provide the results back to the credit reporting agency where you have initiated the dispute. If the information provider finds the disputed information to be inaccurate, it must notify the credit reporting agency so they can correct this information in your credit report.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act also requires that the credit reporting agency delete from your credit report disputed information that cannot be verified. This is the true power of credit report disputes for the consumer.
To find out if there is any incorrect information on your credit report, you need to review a current copy of your credit report. Under federal law, you have the right to one free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies annually. Once you see the accounts in your credit report that have major or minor errors and are dragging down your credit score, it’s time to start the credit report disputes.
See also:
Credit Report Dispute Letter
Credit Dispute Online
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