For many years now, businesses and employers have been using credit scores to evaluate applications for employment, credit, insurance and housing. They use this score to determine what kind of risk you might present to them in the future.

As a result, your credit score could have a massive effect on how you reach the major goals and milestones in your life. Your credit report itself contains information related to your address, how you pay your bills and credit cards, and whether you have had any judgments filed against you in court.

Therefore, it’s a vital to check the accuracy of what your report contains before being faced with the possible embarrassment and distress of having an important application rejected.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows consumers to request a free copy of their credit report once a year from each of the three credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

However, it’s unsurprising to learn that errors on credit reports are not uncommon. Some are minor and then others can be quite significant.

If this occurs, you have the right to request that the information be removed from your report.

You can report the inaccuracies to both the credit reporting bureaus and the original reporting creditor.

Step One

Initially, you might want to try calling the creditor directly. If they recognize that the information is incorrect, they are required to update both their records and the external records held by the credit reporting agencies.

Follow any phone calls up with a letter summarizing and confirming information in the telephone call.

Step Two

If you cannot resolve the issue with the creditor, you will need to contact the reporting agency. Ultimately, according to the law, they have the responsibility to report accurate information. Contact them to inform them of the inaccuracies you have found.

It is vital that you include proof to back up your claims that the information is inaccurate. For example, you should include copies of receipts, paid off accounts, check payments, or settlement agreements etc.

To add weight to your dispute, your letter should also mention the negative consequences of the inaccurate report. For example, were you turned down for a loan, mortgage or credit card? Have you had difficulty being approved for an apartment? Are you paying higher interest rates? Those are just some of the effects of having a poor credit report.

Below you will find a sample letter that you can send to the credit reporting agency. Use this as a guide to write your own letter. This can also be adapted to send to the reporting creditor.

Once you have completed your letter, mail it to the credit reporting agency and/or creditor by certified mail.

If you file a dispute with a credit reporting bureau, they have the responsibility to inform the other agencies of the changes. However, this could take some time, so if you are in need of urgent changes to your report, you may want to file disputes with each of the three main credit bureaus.

After mailing your letter to file a dispute, you should receive notification of the result within 30-45 days. Along with their response, the credit reporting bureau is also required to include a free copy of your credit report as confirmation. (This is in addition to your free yearly report).