Cleaning Credit Report Mistakes

Studies show that credit report mistakes or small errors may be found in 70 percent of the reports issued by credit report agencies. According to Creditreport.com "a high percentage of consumer credit reports - up to 70 percent - contain errors, so you should be prepared to see some erroneous information on your credit report." The faster you detect and eliminate them the better for you.

It is not easy to anyone to repair a credit report. It's particularly difficult for the minorities who's language barriers are making additional difficulties for repairing a credit report. In today's issue Miami Herald is running a story named "Language barrier hurts credit report repair," which discussed how a person, who's English is not very good, is coping with the credit report agencies trying to correct mistakes in his report.

U.S. PIRG collected 200 surveys from adults in 30 states who reviewed their credit reports for accuracy. Key findings include:

* Twenty-five percent (25%) of the credit reports contained errors serious enough to result in the denial of credit;

* Seventy-nine percent (79%) of the credit reports contained mistakes of some kind;

* Fifty-four percent (54%) of the credit reports contained personal demographic identifying information that was misspelled, long-outdated, belonged to a stranger, or was otherwise incorrect;

* Thirty percent (30%) of the credit reports contained credit accounts that had been closed by the consumer but incorrectly remained listed as open.

How To Repair A Credit Report

First, think about how can the errors happen in your credit report and that will help you to know how you can repair them. Yet, you kneed to know that sometimes people just fall victim to credit scam.

Second, keep checking your credit report. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion provide free credit report. Some other places may promise a free service, but they are not really free.

Third, when you see an error in your credit report you should contact your credit bureau. Keep good records, so in these types of situations you have the necessary records to prove your point.

Next, be prepared to go the the source and know how the reporting agency is provided with bad information. Understand how mistakes should be handled.

The last point it to make the consumer alert about the identity theft. If that has been the case it will reflect on your credit report. Seeking a legal help is one of the optimal options in a such situation. If your credit report has serious mistakes you need to file a credit fraud alerts with the the major credit bureaus that we mentioned above: Equifax (1-800-525-6285), Experian (1-888-397-3742), and TransUnion (1-800-680-7289). Also file a complaint with FTC online or by calling 1-877-438-4338.