Your credit report contains information about where you work, live and how
you pay your bills (On time or not). It also may show whether youve been sued,
arrested or have filed for bankruptcy with in the last 10 years. Companies
called consumer reporting agencies (cra) or credit bureaus compile and sell your
credit report to businesses all over the world.
Many financial advisors suggest that you periodically review your credit
report for inaccuracies or omissions. This could be especially important if
youre considering making a major purchase, such as buying a home. Checking in
advance on the accuracy of information in your credit file could speed the
credit-granting process, clean credit is a must.
Because businesses use this information to evaluate your applications for
credit, insurance, employment, and other purposes allowed by the Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA), its important that the information in your report is
complete and accurate.
Whenever you apply for any type of credit or financing, a credit report is
pulled from at least one of the three major credit bureaus. You want a clean
credit report to be pulled. While there are hundreds of smaller credit bureaus
around the country, virtually every credit bureau is affiliated with either
Experian, Trans Union, or Equifax.
Getting Your Clean Credit Report
If youve been denied credit, insurance, or employment because of information
supplied by a credit reporting agency, the FCRA says the company you applied to
must give you the agency`s name, address, and telephone number. If you contact
the agency for a copy of your report within 60 days of receiving a denial
notice, the report is free. In addition, youre entitled to one free copy of
your report a year.
If you simply want a copy of your report, call each credit bureau listed
since more than one agency may have a file on you, some with different
information.
The three major national credit bureaus are:
Equifax, P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241; (800) 685-1111.
Experian (formerly TRW), P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013; (888) EXPERIAN
(397-3742).
Trans Union, P.O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022; (800) 916-8800.
Correcting Errors For Clean Credit.
To protect all your rights under the law and to keep your credit clean
contact both the CRA and the information provider.
First to get clean credit reports, tell the credit reporting agency in
writing what information you believe is inaccurate. Include copies (please keep
your originals) of documents that support your position. In addition to
providing your complete name and address, your letter should clearly identify
each item in your report you dispute, state the facts and explain why you
dispute the information, and request deletion or correction. Always keep copies
of your dispute letter.
They must reinvestigate the items in question, usually within 30 days, unless
they consider your dispute frivolous. They also must forward all relevant data
you provide about the dispute to the information provider. After the information
provider receives notice of a dispute from the CRA, it must investigate, review
all relevant information provided by the CRA, and report the results to the CRA.
If the information provider finds the disputed information to be inaccurate, it
must notify all nationwide CRAs so they can correct this information in your
file. Disputed information that cannot be verified must be deleted from your
file, then you will recieve a clean credit report, with that item removed.
If your report contains erroneous information, the CRA must correct it(clean
credit).
If an item is incomplete, the CRA must complete it. For example, if your file
showed that you were late making payments ( 30 days or more), but failed to show
that you were no longer delinquent, the CRA must show that youre current.
If your file shows an account that belongs only to another person, the CRA
must delete it.
When the reinvestigation is complete, they must give you the written results
and a free copy of your clean credit report, if the dispute results in a change.
If an item is changed or removed, they cannot put the disputed information back
in your file unless the information provider verifies its accuracy and
completeness.
Also, if you request, they must send notices of clean credit report
corrections to anyone who received your report in the past six months. Job
applicants can have a corrected copy of their clean credit report sent to anyone
who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes. If a
reinvestigation does not resolve your dispute, ask the CRA to include your
statement of the dispute in your file and in future reports.
Second, in addition to writing to the credit agency, tell the creditor or
other information provider in writing that you dispute an item. Again, include
copies (please not originals) of documents that support your position. Many
providers specify an address for disputes. If the provider then reports the item
to any credit reporting angency, it must include a notice of your dispute. In
addition, if you are correct that is, if the disputed information is not
accurate the information provider may not use it again, thus you will have a
clean credit report.
When negative information in your report is accurate, only the passage of
time can assure its removal. Accurate negative information can generally stay on
your report for 7 years.
Clean Credit: There are certain exceptions:
Bankruptcy information may be reported for 10 years.
Information about criminal convictions may be reported without any time
limitation.
Credit information reported in response to an application for a job with a
salary of more than $75,000 has no time limit.
Information about a lawsuit or an unpaid judgment against you can be reported
for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is
longer. Criminal convictions can be reported without any time limit.
Credit information reported because of an application for more than $150,000
worth of credit or life insurance has no time limit.
