Go over your personal information in detail; make notes regarding any spelling mistakes regarding your name, address or employment, including alias and spousal information. Then check your inquiries, make sure you have authorized these. Note any inquiries that you did not authorize, and be wary of these as it could be a sign of identity theft. When checking your credit history, make sure that each account showing is one that you have signed for, review the payment history for accuracy, opening dates and balances; make detailed notes of any discrepancies that you find.
Now that you have identified all errors on your credit reports that require fixing, you will need to notify both the reporting credit bureau and the information provider in writing. You must include your complete name and address, and clearly outline each item you want fixed in your credit bureau report or any items you are disputing; state what is the error, outline the facts and explain in detail what you are disputing. You then want to request deletion or correction immediately. In this process to fix credit reports, it is also a good idea to include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position.
You may want to enclose a copy of your reports with the items in question circled. Send your letter by certified mail, return receipt requested. It is very important to keep copies of your all your dispute correspondence. The credit bureau agencies are responsible to reinvestigate the items in question usually within 30 days and forward all relevant data you provide about the dispute to the information provide. The information provider must investigate and report the results to the credit bureau. They in turn will correct this information in your file and fix credit report.
Once the reinvestigation is complete, the credit bureaus must give you the written results and provide you with copies of your totally free credit reports if the dispute results in any change. Once your credit report has been fixed, you can request the credit reporting agencies to send notices of corrections to anyone who received your report in the past six months.
Even though the credit reporting companies are suppose to investigate your dispute within 30 days, you might find that this is not the case, so, keep on top of them. You may even have to send a second request. Fixing your credit reports can take some time, so have patience. However, you want to be persistent, and make sure they fix these errors, as they could be affecting your credit reporting scores and you may not be getting all the credit you deserve.
Michael Anderson writes for http://www.goodcreditreport.info where you can find out more about good credit reports and other topics.
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