Credit report errors are something that most people are familiar with. If you’ve ever gotten a credit card or loan, you probably know the importance of having your credit report in order. A mistake on your credit report can affect your ability to get loans, mortgages and even jobs. But what do you do if you find an error on your credit report? Here is a guide to help answer these questions.
What is a credit report?
A credit report is a record of your personal and financial information that is kept by the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. It includes information such as your name, address, social security number, date of birth, marital status, credit history, and payment history.
Why do errors happen on my credit report?
There are many reasons an error can occur on your credit report. Some of the most common are identity theft, incorrect information from a business or financial institution, and mistakes made by employees of the credit reporting company.
Another reason that errors can occur is that your account has been closed and it is no longer being updated with new information. If you have one of these problems going on with your credit report, it is important to contact the three major credit reporting companies in order to put yourself back on track.
How do I fix mistakes on my credit report?
You can only fix mistakes on your credit report if you know what’s wrong. Start by contacting the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. This is where you will find out why there was an error in your credit report in the first place. More often than not, the reason for a mistake is a misspelled name or an incorrect address. These are easily fixed with a phone call and some paperwork from the company that reported the mistake. If you don’t have time to do this, you want to consider employing the services of a credit repair company to do this for you.
If you want to fix errors that aren’t as easy to fix, like identity theft or loan fraud, you should contact an attorney who specializes in this field. This attorney can help you file a lawsuit against the person who committed fraud on your credit report, which could allow you to get all of your money back after months of no progress.
What are the consequences of having an error on your credit report?
If you find an error on your credit report, it can have a big impact on your finances. If you have an error like a missed payment or late fee that is not paid, this can hurt your score and make it harder to receive financing in the future. If you are denied a loan or mortgage because of an error on your credit report, it could also affect your ability to purchase property in the future.
How to avoid mistakes in the future
If you want to avoid mistakes in the future, it’s important to know what kinds of errors are on your credit report. There are three types of errors on credit reports: information that does not belong, incorrect information, and incomplete information.
Information that does not belong is when personal information is entered incorrectly into your credit report. For example, if you accidentally entered your birthday as being younger than it actually was, this would be considered information that does not belong and would result in an error.
An incorrect entry means when the wrong person’s name or address is entered into your report. If someone showed up in your credit report and they were not who they claimed to be, then this would be an incorrect entry. Incomplete entries are usually misspelled names or addresses that have been left off of your report. While incomplete entries don’t always cause a problem for consumers, they can limit how much financial access you have in the future if there are too many incomplete entries on your credit report.
Conclusion
Credit report errors are a common occurrence, but as this article explains, there are ways to fix them and get on the right track. With the steps outlined in this article, you will not only fix your credit report but also be able to avoid mistakes in the future.
Checking your credit report is just one step in the process of building a strong credit history. After you are done checking your report, be sure to follow up with the three major credit bureaus and request that they change any information you feel is inaccurate.
