Did you know that a strong credit score is still one of the leading factors lenders use in determining whether or not to issue a consumer credit? Staying on top of your credit score to make sure there are no inaccuracies or errors is important for consumers even if you aren’t anticipating taking out a loan anytime soon.
Free Credit Reports
You can receive a free copy of your credit report once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com. This report will only show credit history, and not credit scores. To obtain a credit score, you can visit www.myfico.com.
Disputing Credit Errors
To dispute an error, you should first should contact the lender that reported the information to the credit bureaus. Next, contact the credit bureaus using the numbers listed on the credit reports. This also can be done online at www.transunion.com, www.equifax.com, or www.experian.com. If the report is more than 60 days old, you should obtain a new report, which may have a new phone number. If the report was obtained from a third-party site rather than directly from the credit bureau, you may have to order a report from the bureau to begin the dispute process. It usually takes 30 to 45 days to resolve disputes, although simple factutal errors can take less time.