There are a lot of consumers with unknown errors on their credit reports. About 25% of people with credit have an error they don’t know about. They’re typically found when someone is trying to obtain a new credit card, purchase a home or obtain a car loan. In those time-crunched situations, it can get frustrating to have to wait for your credit report to get fixed. If you want to fix credit score errors fast, you’ll need to know a few things first.
Obtaining a Credit Report Isn’t As Hard As It Sounds
There are three major credit bureaus from which you can obtain a credit report. You are entitled to one free report once per year from each bureau including TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. You may also be able to obtain a free report from CreditKarma, Bankrate and WalletHub. Simply get onto each bureau’s website, look for the link that guides you through obtaining a report and you’ll have the report in just a short period of time.
It’s Your Responsibility to Check for Errors
In most cases, a creditor or credit bureau will not catch an error and inform you it existed and was fixed. It’s your responsibility to check over every minute detail of your report to see if there are any errors. This might take some time, and you may have to make some phone calls to confirm information, but it will be worth the effort when your credit score improves. The following are some errors to check for.
- Misidentification – Sometimes you are misidentified due to identity theft and other times it’s a genuine mistake. There’s a chance a creditor misspelled your name or address, that your social security number was incorrectly put into the system or that your file was confused with another because you have similar personal information. This is an obvious problem for many reasons, but one is because someone else’s poor credit history could be damaging your score.
- Clerical Errors – Humans make mistakes, but they should be fixed and your credit score shouldn’t have to suffer because of them. Some common clerical errors include inaccurate data being input, duplicate accounts being reported as separate accounts because they are being followed up by different debt collectors, and negative information that has reached seven years but has no been removed from your account. These are often some easy fixes, so be sure you clear them up so your score doesn’t suffer much longer.
- Account Errors – Duplicate accounts, authorized user accounts reported as primary accounts, closed accounts being reported as open and a variety of other account errors could need to be remedied to improve your credit score. These types of errors can affect your utilization ratio, the length of your credit history and various other aspects, which could decrease your score. This is why it’s important you get them straightened out.
You’ll Need to Dispute Each Error Separately
Don’t think you can just create one dispute letter that contains every issue and duplicate it for each credit bureau. It’s important you give each error personal attention. A credit bureau could look at a long list and reject it due to the lengthy request. It’s also possible you’ll forget to change the credit bureau name for each letter, which could result in the request being tossed out due to improper information on your part. It’ll take some time, but it’s worth finding that time to contact each credit bureau with a separate letter for each dispute. This can also help you keep track of what has been taken care of and what is still in the works.
You Can Improve Your Score With AU Tradelines
It’s important you pair credit repair with improving your credit score. Credit repair is all about knocking those negative items off. When you dispute mistakes and have them removed from your score, it could make your score increase to a certain degree, but you can further the process along by purchasing AU tradelines in conjunction with the other steps you’re taking. Tradelines are all about adding positive items to your score.
As an authorized user, the tradeline you purchase goes directly onto your credit history in just a matter of days or weeks, but you don’t ever have to worry about being liable for the debt. These seasoned accounts offer an increase to your credit score. You are then given the opportunities to obtain credit for the other purchases you need to make in your life.
Improving Your Credit Score the Most Effective Way
When you set out to fix credit score errors, there’s a possibility you’ll run into some problems. To offset the issues, and to strive for a higher score in a shorter period of time, be sure to utilize tradelines in conjunction with credit repair. To learn more about how to do this, contact Coast Tradelines today at 619-363-1472.
