The Purpose of Credit Report Error Disputes

Credit report error disputing can be very helpful if you know the purpose of it. This is NOT a way to remove negative items that are there because of your own negligence or your own careless spending.

Rather, they are intended to help prevent you from further identity theft. They also can help eliminate any record of unauthorized transactions that can hurt your credit. This can open up new doors for you-for one it can improve your FICO score (numerical rating separate from your free copy of financial history you receive).

More specific reasons to dispute errors on your credit report include the following:

  • Any negative mark against you can prevent you from getting a home or car loan.
  • If you have an error on your report of accounts unauthorized that are over the credit limit that can cost you the ability to apply for new credit cards.
  • Excessive purchases made with your credit cards showing up on your report without your knowledge can prevent you from making future purchases.
  • You could prevent from getting utility service, cell phone service, and so on as a result of unpaid bills you did not even know you had.
  • Bad marks you have no idea about could even prevent you from getting a job or even getting insurance.
  • There may be incorrect information on your report pertaining to your personal information (name, address, phone number and more).

Credit Report Order Info

You can order all three of your credit reports offered by each of the three agencies (Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax) all at once. You can also order them separately. However, you are entitled to one free copy from each of these bureaus every 12 months-no matter what.

The easiest way to order your free credit report is to go to Annual Credit Report.com. This is the only U.S. government-authorized portal for doing so. This website is run by Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

Note, however, that U.S. law does not require you to receive your FICO or other numerical evaluation of your creditworthiness. This is often provided separately as you use paid monitoring services.

You can also order it by calling this toll free phone number: 1-877-322-8228 or you can go the FTC website and get the Annual Credit Report Request form and mail it in to this address: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.