credit report - How to Get Your Credit Report Corrected

Are you troubled by a poor credit rating? You clearly know how important a good credit standing can be. If you have a bad credit score, you might not be able to qualify for loans, and that may prevent you from buying a house or a car, or getting an insurance policy or a credit card. And a bad credit report may not even be your fault, if there are inaccuracies in your report, or if your credit score was affected due to identity theft and fraud. Whatever the reason may be for your bad credit report, you cannot just let it be. For the sake of your future, you have to try to repair your credit. The road to credit repair begins with obtaining a copy of your credit report. With it, you can determine if there are any discrepancies in your report that you can dispute. You can obtain of a free copy of your credit report in some circumstances. For example, if you have applied for credit, insurance, or employment and have been turned down, the company is bound to provide you with your report if you ask for a copy within 60 of receiving notifice of the denial. There are a number of other cases in which you are eligible to get a free annual credit report, such as being unemployed, being on welfare, or being the victim of credit fraud. You are also entitled to a free credit report once a year from each of the three major consumer reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. If you have to, you can also obtain your credit report for a fee from a consumer reporting company or an online credit report provider. Once you have received a copy of your credit report, examine it closely to spot if there are any discrepancies. Be sure that you have documentation that can support your claims. Mail a dispute letter to the consumer reporting agency that authored the report, and include copies--not originals--of the documents that will help your case. Know that the law places on credit reporting agencies and credit information providers the responsibility of guaranteeing the accuracy of your credit report; thus they are required to correct your report if it should contain any inaccuracies. So they must investigate your dispute, and that will save you the expense and trouble of dealing with every one of your creditors by yourself. And you should not be charged for the investigation; the law says that you cannot be charged a fee for filing a dispute claim over your credit report with the consumer reporting agency. So go ahead and file it and expect an investigation to be made. You can get tips about DIY credit repair and read other articles that can help you with your credit at http://creditrepairinsider.info Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Ducat credit report - Steps to Take Should You Become a Fraud Victim While having a credit card can be liberating, being a fraud victim can certainly max out your credit card limit, give you a bad credit rating and at the same time cause you to lose your rights to low APR rates. Therefore, the moment you find out you are a victim of fraud, you must act quickly and take the following steps: Contact your credit card company and banks You should always have the phone number of your credit card provider at hand in the event of credit card theft or forgery. The company can then freeze your credit card access instantly, thereby cutting their losses as well as yours. Normally, you will just have to make a minimum payment of probably $50 to cover any amount that has been charged to your card in between the time you discover your loss, till the time you report it. Lodge a police report A copy of your police report is a requirement to verify the crime that has been committed against you. This police report will aid in any financial requests made to your bank, insurance company or credit card companies. Even though certain officials may put down this loss as a minimum-impact crime as you may have not lost anything yet, you have to remember that you could be affected in the long term. Close any affected accounts It is important to close any accounts that are accessible by your credit card(s) and open new accounts. Always close the account at your own request. Try to avoid stating 'credit card stolen' as the reason for closing your account as this will show irresponsibility on your side and would reflect badly in your credit report. Closing your account will also avoid further disputes with unauthorized purchases made to your card. Contact the Credit Bureau Report the loss of your credit card and request for your account to be flagged to avoid unauthorized access. Be sure to contact the fraud unit of any of the three credit reporting companies: Trans Union, Equifax and Experian and notify them of your loss. You should also request for a credit report periodically to detect any activity in your credit history that has been made without your knowledge.