subject: Correcting Incorrect Credit Report Information [print this page] Whenever you receive your credit report and notice harmful information in it that is wrong, you should attempt to have the information corrected. But sometimes, your attempt will be unsuccessful. In this case, the credit reporting agency will retain the bad information in your credit report.
On the other hand, if you honestly and strongly think that the information is in error, you should not stop there. Your next step is to contact the creditor directly to try to determine exactly where the wires are being crossed.
Most consumers don't know this, but a lot of creditors contain errors in the database files that they are keeping on you. And, in many cases, they send on this incorrect information to the various credit reporting agencies. If this is the case, then it will take communication from them to the credit collection agency to get the agency to remove the incorrect information from your report.
To begin the process, send a letter to the creditor. State the report error in detail. Additionally, forward a copy of the letter to the credit reporting agency. And keep a copy for yourself. Send supporting documents with the letter. The documents should clearly prove your side of the argument. For example, if the creditor is a car dealership and the discrepancy is over the number of late payments that you have made, send the dealership copies of the canceled checks to prove that the payments were sent on time.
The letter is a must. But you also need to do a bit more. A week or so after sending the letter, follow it up with a phone call to either their customer service department or their billing department. Getting a person involved will usually make the process go quicker.
The best case scenario is that once you have communicated a couple or three times with the creditor, that your documentation will convince them that they are in error. In this case, all that they have to do is send you a letter of correction, in writing. You will then send this letter to the credit reporting agency along with a request to correct the bad information in the report and they will take it from there.
Sometimes, however, no matter what you do, the creditor will not do what you need to be done. In this case, you can contact the attorney general in your state and get them involved. In extreme circumstances, you may be forced to file a lawsuit against the creditor.
This illustrates the supreme importance of keeping complete and accurate records of all of your financial dealings. If you do this, ultimately the wealth of evidence on your side will force the necessary corrections to be made to your report.
