What Items to Dispute on Your Credit Report

The FCRA says that anything that is inaccurate on your credit report can by disputed, however anything that is not inaccurate cannot be disputed. You want to be careful though, you do not want to dispute everything on your credit report if it can be avoided. 

By disputing everything you may turn yourself into a credit ghost. Having no credit will make you a ghost and it is VERY hard to establish credit without having any credit. Some financial advisors tell people that having no credit is worse than having bad credit. You have to start all over again, get a secured credit card or a department store credit card and build your way back. This could take 6 months to a year.

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I ran a survey over the summer of 1000 and asked what was their target time frame on a resolution to raise their credit score. over 85% of the people responded with 30 days or less. it was apparent that the majority of the people I surveyed were looking for a quick fix because they wanted to purchase something.  Normally this is a house or an asset of substantial value.

So you have your credit in your hand, and your looking t all the numbers on it. What now?

·         Make sure the account numbers all match (yes, go pull out your old bills or credit cards in your wallet! This is a very common mistake, believe it or not).

·         Check your 24 month aging, make sure that if there are any late pays you were truly 30+ days late those months. You can refer back to my post on "What Do All Those Numbers On Your Credit Report Mean?" for a breakdown.

·         Is the account even yours? More and more items are appearing on people's credit report that aren't even theirs. With the growing number of fraud cases doubling every year for the past couple of years, this has become more common. Make sure someone is not using your social security number.

·         Is the balance correct?

·         Id the Date of Last transaction correct?

·         Do you recognize all of the companies that have inquired on your credit report?

·         Is the date of birth correct?

·         Are there multiple social security numbers listed? You may find the social from your significant other listed here also.

·         Are there any addresses that you never lived at?

·         Places of employment you never worked at?

All of these above could be dragging your credit score down. That is why it is important to ensure your credit report is 100% accurate. Any of this information that is not accurate is subject to be disputed by you.

Make sure that when you send your dispute letters to the bureaus, you send them return receipt requested. you need to have record of when the bureaus receive your report and start their investigation.

What Items to Dispute on Your Credit Report

Get this Credit Repair Kit to get you started.

Clay Bowden has been a debt collector for 15 years, and is now the owner of Epic Internet Ventures. Which "Empowers People With Information So They May Help Themselves". You can visit his credit blog at: http://www.epicinternetventures.com/credit.