By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-07-22 14:02:44 | Word Count: 664
Companies like Credit Elves can not only help you with ideas on how to repair your credit, they offer sample credit report repair letters that you send to your creditors and credit reporting agencies to dispute any erroneous charges you might find on your credit reports.
Bad credit can ruin your chances of getting a loan for a major purchase like a home or car. Creditors do not always have correct information about your payment history or personal information, and it is up to you to make sure that your credit report is as accurate as it should be; no one else will do it for you for free. There are plenty of companies out there that will offer to help you with cleaning up your credit for a price, but there’s no reason you can’t do it yourself with a little effort, persistence and follow-through. All it takes is copies of your credit reports, some sort of plan to get copies of your payments and bills from creditors (if there are inaccuracies) and a plan to get your credit repaired.
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Obtaining your credit reports is easy. Contact annualcreditreport.com, and they’ll walk you through obtaining all three of your credit reports from the major three reporting agencies: TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. Get your report and check it for accuracy, including current and previous addresses, payment history, any arrest records or liens and bankruptcies. Know that credit reporting agencies sell this information to potential creditors, insurance companies, potential employers and anyone else who might use it to either evaluate your fitness for a job or a loan. Make sure too, that your information is correct, because you want to ensure that you have never been the victim of identity theft. Make sure all reported information is transactions that have been not only made by you, but might have been authorized by you.
If you find inaccuracies or incorrect information, you can use sample credit report repair letters free from Credit Elves to dispute these erroneous charges. Review sample credit report repair letters to see which one best fits your circumstances. You’ll include all account information you can find, your current address and the address at the time of the charges, and copies of any bills you might have that prove your point. Highlight any charges you think are in error or you are disputing, and make not of it in the letter. Maybe you made payments that were missed by your creditors, and they wrongly marked you as delinquent. Copies of cancelled checks or money order receipts may come in handy, too, and you’ll need to keep the originals and send copies of everything that is pertinent along with your credit report repair/dispute letter.
Follow up in a few weeks if you have not heard back, and in a few months; check your credit reports again to make sure the incorrect information has been updated correctly on your report. If there has indeed been a mistake, it is up to the creditor to report to all three credit-reporting agencies so that your file will be updated accordingly.
