By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-12-15 23:40:29 | Word Count: 664
There are several ways to go about increasing your credit score, but only one way to really do it quickly. That is to resolve any mistakes, no matter how small, that may be on your credit report.
Begin by ordering your credit report from the three reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax). Although this may seem redundant, the three bureaus gather slightly different information when creating their reports, so each one will be a little different from the next. You can also get information from all three agencies at once by ordering your report from www.annualcreditreport.com.
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No matter where you order from, you are entitled to a free report annually. You are also not obligated to pay for your report if you’re unemployed, if you lost your employment because of your credit report, if you were unable to get a loan as a result of something in your credit report or if you suspect you have been a victim of identity theft.
If you do end up paying for your credit report, it shouldn’t break your bank. The cost varies by state, but it never exceeds $10, so don’t worry.
Now that you have your credit reports in your hands, it’s important to be vigilant about reading them. Look carefully at all aspects of the report for mistakes. These mistakes can negatively impact your credit score, and removing them is by far the fastest way to clean up your credit report. Watch specifically for mistakes in:
* Your personal information. Make sure the reporting agency knows exactly who you are based on accurate representations of your name, address, previous address, phone number, date of birth and social security number.
* Your account records. Look closely at how your accounts are documented. Are they accurate representations of your financial history? Do accounts you’ve closed appear to still be opened? Do you have any accounts marked with late payments that were in fact paid on time? Removing things like this will have a major impact on your overall credit score.
* Although this may not be a mistake, watch for accounts that don’t look familiar to you. Someone may in fact have opened that account, but if it wasn’t you that’s credit card fraud, and needs to be reported immediately to the credit bureau, as well as your creditor. This can rapidly have a snowball effect on your credit score, so it’s important to take care of something as glaring as potential identity theft as quickly as possible.
If you find something within your report you need to dispute, you must contact the reporting agency who’s report you have a problem with in writing. Someone like the professionals at Creditelves can help this process go much more smoothly. Their templates will help you include all the information needed for the bureau to make an informed decision about how to handle your dispute.
Once the reporting agency receives your letter, they then have 30 days to let you know how they’ve responded. They will either deny your request if the creditor was able to prove their reasoning behind the entry, or remove it entirely if the creditor doesn’t respond in time or isn’t able to produce relevant proof.
If they remove it, make sure you keep in touch with the credit bureau to verify that the mistake was properly removed and the other reporting agencies were notified of the change, so that all of your credit scores are more accurate representations of your financial history.
For more tips and tricks to increase your credit score quickly, visit www.creditelves.com.
