1. Request and review.
Get your three credit reports and scrutinize them for errors. The three national credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Request all three for free once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com - or call 877-322-8228. You can monitor your credit standing during the year by staggering requests from each of the three bureaus every few months.
2. Flag and file.
Dispute errors directly with each credit bureau in writing, return-receipt requested. Send copies of all documents that support your claim. Also send a copy of your credit-bureau dispute - along with documentation - directly to the creditor that provided the information. Credit bureaus have 30 days to investigate and correct errors.
3. Check and complain.
If errors that were supposed to be corrected continue to appear on one or more credit report months after your initial complaint, file a new dispute with the offending creditor. This time include a copy of the documented correction that you already won, and file a complaint about the creditor with the Federal Trade Commissions (go to www.jtc.gov and, under the “Consumer Protection” tab, click on the “File a Complaint” tab).
4. Repair and recalculate.
If a lender, insurer or other party based its rate or prices on your error-filled report, the credit bureau is required to send corrected copies to those companies. Ask lenders to recalculate your interest rate based on the corrected information.
5. Fixing ID fraud.
If errors were due to identity theft, you have the right to block the credit bureaus from reporting specific accounts opened by the thief. You can even block credit-application inquiries. To accomplish this, you must file an ID theft report with the three credit bureaus. For information, go to www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft.
