5 Steps to Fixing a Mistake on Your Credit Report
One of the most important aspects of getting a home mortgage loan is your credit report and score. It is very important that you have a good credit score when you apply for a home loan, especially now. To that end, you should keep watch over your personal finances, including regularly checking your credit report. And if you find a mistake on your credit report, you need to move to fix it. Here are 5 steps that can help you fix a mistake on your credit report:
- Get your documentation together. It is important that you keep track of billing statements and payment information. Keep them in a file just for that purpose so you can easily find them. Then, if a mistake shows up, you can find the proof needed to clear it up. Continue keeping documentation throughout your dispute. You want copies of letters, requests and other information available to you later.
- Let the credit-reporting agency know. The mistake on your credit report is usually found through one of the three credit bureaus. Call the one where your mistake was found. Send a letter as well. It’s best to do this in writing. Keep it to one page, and try to be detailed. The bureau then has to notify the other two, as well as the reporting creditor, and begin the investigation.
- Send a letter to the creditor. You can speed up the process by contacting the creditor who made the error as well. Call to find out where to send a letter of dispute, and then write one for the creditor. This will get things rolling on the creditor’s end, without the wait for the credit bureau to contact the creditor.
- Follow up in 30 days. Creditors are required to dispute or verify the information provided within 30 days. So follow up. You entitled to another free credit report so that you can verify the proper changes have been made. You should also follow up with the credit bureau if the information in your credit report has not been fixed.
- Get an attorney if the situation is not resolved. If you are in the right, and you have taken all of the above steps and nothing has been resolved in the required time, you can hire a lawyer. The Fair Credit Reporting Act always for a lawyer fee, so if you are in the right, you only pay if you win. And the fee is usually paid for you.
Tags: apply home loan, home loan, home mortgage, steps fixing mistake credit report,
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