Clear Out-of-date Information from Your Credit Report

Credit reports play a significant role in determining your financial reliability. However, many times negative credit information in the past results in bad credit score and people start worrying about it. Well, you should know that it is possible to remove the outdated negative information from the credit report according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. As a result, you will be left with good account history increasing your financial integrity.

Undoubtedly, a procedure has to be followed by the individual looking forward to remove old negative credit information from the credit history. However, before introducing you to the procedure, here are mentioned types of information that can be removed.

Information that needs to be removed

The information you should check for in your credit report in order to have a clean one are as follows:

  • Information such as paid tax liens, lawsuits, late payments, and overdue child support more than seven years old.
  • If you have filed bankruptcy ten years before then it can be removed from credit report as well.
  • More than two years old, credit inquiries should also be removed from the credit report.

Once you know what all information should be removed from the credit report it is time to begin with the procedure required for it.

Steps for Cleaning Out-of-Date Information


  • Getting Copy of Credit Report

The most basic step is to get the copy of credit report from not only one credit bureau but from all three of them. The three credit bureaus that are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion maintain slightly different credit information in reports and thus you should ask each of them for the report.

  • Filing Dispute on Website of Credit Bureau

Once you have found outdated information in your credit report, it is time to file a dispute on the official website of the credit bureau. You can find an application form for filing dispute on the website. Fill the required information and provide reasons why the information should be removed from your report. Make sure that you report the matter individually to all the three credit bureaus.

  • Dispatching Letter of Dispute

You should dispatch the dispute letter to bureaus with statements; letters from agencies and all other required documents so that the process can be completed within less span of time.

  • Wait For the Response

Once the process of removing the information is over the credit bureau would send the updated credit report.
It generally takes 35 to 40 days for completion of clearing outdated information from credit report.