Your credit score is based on your credit record and credit payment history that is contained in your credit report. The importance of credit scores and personal credit data has made credit reports and the data they contain a very valuable product.
An individual will have a credit record on file at a credit reporting agency if they have applied for a credit card, charge account, a personal loan, insurance, a job and various other actions related to credit. Your credit report contains information about your debts and credit payment history. It also indicates whether you have been sued by a creditor and lost, have filed for bankruptcy or have tax liens filed against you.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was established to help ensure that credit reporting agencies furnish correct and complete information in your credit report. A summary of some of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act include: the right to receive a copy of your credit report, you also have the right to a free copy of your credit report when your application is denied because of information supplied by the credit reporting agency, any company that denies your credit application based on your credit information must supply the name and address of the credit reporting agency they utilized,
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the credit reporting companies and the creditors that report information to the credit reporting companies must resolve any disputes you have regarding the reporting of your credit information. If you wish contest the completeness or accuracy of information in your report, you have the right to file a dispute with the credit reporting agency and with the company that provided the information to the credit reporting agency. Your right to dispute even the small inaccuracies in your credit report is protected by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
For those consumers that want to dispute their credit report information, the results can be very positive. Of course, the credit report dispute is most successful when the data being disputed is having a negative impact on your credit score, information such as dleinquent credit balance amounts, collection acounts, dleinquent payment records and similar such derogatory credit data. If the credit report dispute is successful and your credit report is updated due to the failure of the credit reporting to verify any data that contradicts you dispute, the credit reporting agency will make the change to your report and send you an updated copy of your credit report.
Even though the Fair Credit Reporting Act is designed to protect your credit data it will not do the work for you. There are three credit reporting agencies in the U.S that produce the majority of the credit reports for banks and making sure that the credit report from each is correct is a critical to maintaining a good credit standing and a good credit score. Don’t be surprised if you have a different credit score based on the credit data with each credit reporting agency.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act was established to help consumers, it is your job to use the resources protected by law to dispute credit report information that you feel is inaccurate or otherwise flawed, and follow up to make sure that the issue is resolved.