Types of Credit Report Errors

A variety of credit report errors may show up on your files. Some of these can be disputed and removed but you have to know what kinds of items could appear.

The type of credit report errors you may see on your records includes the following:

• You may notice personal information is false or incorrect. Maybe an old phone number is on it or your current address is missing. Maybe your name is misspelled.
• An account that you did not open may be in your name. It may show a serious of unauthorized transactions.
• Unpaid balances for bills you did not accumulate on accounts you did open may show up. This could very easily happen without your knowledge if you rarely use your credit card.
• You might notice delinquent utility bills on your credit report. These may be ordered under your name at a different address.
• Maybe an address to a place you never lived shows up on your report. This could mean that someone is trying to steal your mail if they have not done so already.
• You might see pre-approved offers for credit cards open. They may be just listed by mistake or they could have been opened by someone stealing them out of your mail box.
• Perhaps you notice that you have supposedly applied for a job, insurance, loans, and various types of financing. However, you really didn’t but someone else did in your name.
• You may notice that accounts you have opened are not included on your credit report. This is most likely an honest mistake. You can follow a procedure as recommended by the FTC to have them added. However, not all of them may be added-such as those of restaurants, local retailers, etc.
• Perhaps you notice inquiries on your account requesting to see your information. Maybe you did not authorize this to happen and it did not happen as a result of using an agent authorized to do this.

Dispute Procedures

You can request a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months. Make sure you view the pages of this document very carefully and scan for errors. If there are any then dispute them right away.

In the process, you are going to need to make a photocopy of your free credit reports. This will give you one original copy to keep and one to use to send into the appropriate agencies requesting that errors be fixed or removed.