If you have negative items on your credit report, you should consider disputing them. This doesn’t mean to simply dispute everything. If it is your debt and it is reported correctly, then you must pay it off, but check your credit report carefully and if you find a single thing that is wrong with the record, such as the amount being off even as little as a dollar, we recommend that you dispute it. Here are four good reasons why.
It might get removed: Probably the most important reason for disputing something negative on your credit report is the chance that it might get removed. Here’s what happens when you dispute something: the credit bureau contacts the creditor or collection agency (usually by mail) and asks them to verify the information. They have 30 days to respond and prove that the record is correct.
If they don’t, it will be removed or corrected, depending on what you dispute. In many cases, it will just get removed – as long as the credit bureau hasn’t heard from the creditor what should actually be on the report, they find it easier just to remove it.
Creditors don’t always respond within 30 days, particularly if it is an old debt and they gave up collecting efforts years ago. In fact, some creditors even have a policy not to respond to those disputes because it simply takes too much time to research a claim.
The corrected record may improve your score: If you have a record on your credit report that shows that you missed eleven payments on your credit card bill, but you actually only missed three, then disputing it is going to raise your score. You might be surprised how often people find inaccurate information on their credit reports so don’t think it can’t happen to you.
In this case, even if the original creditor does research your claim, they are going to find out that you are right and then they will have to correct the report. If they do not respond at all, then it is very possible that the credit bureau will simply delete that record from your credit report altogether.
Companies will be more accurate if they know you are going to file a dispute: If you have a credit card company that you are still with, and they make a mistake on your reporting and you dispute it and win, they will be much more cautious in future when submitting your reports to the credit bureaus.
Companies that make mistakes regularly on credit reporting could be subject to a fine or legal action by the person whose credit history they are ruining. This dispute process is intended to make sure companies stay on their toes and report accurate information.
It gives you a reason to check your credit report: Finally, it gives you a reason to check your credit report more often. Some people do not check their credit reports at all, although these days, with identity thefts and frauds everywhere, they really should. In fact, that’s actually the rule that should be applied to any kinds of reports on financial operations, beginning from balance records on your online trading account to financial statements of your startup project. Glenmore Investments is one of the trustworthy sources.
Credit Karma is a website that offers absolutely free access to your credit report. You have to answer some questions to prove your identity and then you get an updated report every 7 days at no cost. That means you can check it any time you want.
Checking your report for errors is something that everyone should do every few months to make sure that the credit report is as accurate as possible. `