Correcting Your Credit Report

After reviewing your credit report, you may find several items that you feel are incomplete or incorrect and should not be on your report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) permits you to challenge any entry on your credit report and force the credit-reporting agency to investigate and prove the item.

Write a certified letter to the agency in question and explain the nature of the dispute. Don't forget to include your name, Social Security number, and current address. Explain the problem and attach a copy of the report to your letter. If you have proof that the item is an error, it will be easy to fix. If you can't prove it as false, the credit-reporting agency still must investigate the item. The bureau must then report back to you the results in a month or so. If the bureau can not verify the disputed item, then, by law, they must remove it.

It may take several letters to get an item removed. If a month has gone by from the date the agency received your initial letter, and you have received no response, then write again and demand that the item be taken off your credit report.

If an agency refuses to remove an item that you think should not be on your report you have several options. Click the link to learn what to do if an agency refuses to remove an item.