Credit Report Complications – How To Resolve Issues and Errors

Did you know that for every 10 average consumers in America with an active credit report, 4 of them have an entry on their record which is incorrect or erroneous? That equates to 40%, and it doesn’t even take in to account the fraudulent activity which might occur in up to 5% of credit reports.

These startling numbers prove that whilst many people think incorrect entries or consumer fraud will never affect them, they could be in for a rude surprise when they actually check.

How To Detect Credit Report Errors

Just like you reconcile your bank statements at the end of each week or month, you should be doing regular reconciliations with your credit check, versus the actual applications for credit and loan repayments that you are successfully making.

If you’ve never done reconciliation before – it’s really quite simple. Just follow these steps:

  1. Acquire a copy of your credit report.
  2. Write down all of the transactions that you believe should be on the report.
  3. Compare the two, and look for obvious differences.

These differences should then be isolated and analysed on an individual basis. If you are able to understand what the entry is, and furthermore why it was made (and who it was made by) – you can put a tick next to this and move on.

However, if you come across something which simply shouldn’t be there – the best thing to do it to launch a disputes process with your credit reporting agency.

Getting Incorrect Entries Removed From Your Credit Report

Ultimately, the reason you would be going through and doing a full credit report reconciliation is so that in the end, you would be able to correct any entries which were not genuine – and therefore increase your credit score in the process.

But once something is entered on to your credit score – how do you get it off? Actually – it’s quite simple. By entering in to a disputes process with the credit reporting agency, you will be able to register your discontent with the entry – and have an opportunity to prove that it was not supposed to be there.

For people with even 1 hour spare – this can be an exceptional exercise to ensure that their future financial outlook remains bright.