Correcting Mistakes and Adding Explanations to Your Credit Reports
It is common for erroneous items to appear on a credit report. It happens to everyone. The good news is you can do something about it. You don’t have to accept or deal with errors on your credit report and you should never pay on them either. You can have errors removed from your credit.
Errors on your credit may cause your credit score to be lower than it should be. It may even be the reason you don’t qualify for the car or home you really wanted. You should never allow an error on your credit to remain on the reports.
Some credit report errors may be on one of the three major credit reports. The three major credit reporting companies are Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax. They don’t always show from all three credit reporting agencies. This is why you should be sure to get a copy of all of your credit reports so you know if there are mistakes. You might have errors scattered throughout your report that you have never seen before. You will never know if you have errors unless you get all three copies and find out.
You don’t have to hire a business to fix mistakes on your credit. You can do your own credit repair. The first thing you need to do is make a list of all of the incorrect items on your credit. You will have to write a letter to the credit reporting agencies listing the issues. You will need to write a letter for each individual error. You will also need to write a letter to each credit reporting agency that has the error listed on their report. That can be a lot of letters. However, you will find in the long run it will be well worth it.
If you have something on your credit that looks really bad and you know you are responsible for the debt you can explain it. It is common for someone to be in a car accident and be hospitalized for a long period of time and debts to go unpaid. You might have gone through a divorce and were unable to pay on debts because of the decrease of the monthly income with your spouse. You can always add an explanation to your credit report. If you have a good reason why you were unable to pay your credit card bills on time or if you refuse to pay a debt because of a legitimate dispute you have with a business, you can add an explanation. All you have to do is give the credit bureaus a short file explaining your situation and they will add it to your file.
If the company provides proof that you do indeed owe the money listed on your credit report the item will remain on your report. If the business cannot provide proof that you owe the claim to the credit reporting agency the item will be stricken from your report. It is easy to have items removed from your credit report if you see errors. You shouldn’t hesitate to contact the credit reporting agencies if you see something on your report that should not be there. It is important for your financial security to properly monitor your credit and take care of errors on your credit if they are there. Your credit scores will remain as they should be.
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