An independent study found that more than one in three Americans have errors on their credit reports. Why and how do the errors show up? How do I remove or replace these errors? What are my legal rights? What is an error? These are some of the most widely asked questions about credit reporting today.
Errors are reported to a credit bureau by a creditor, collection agency, court of law or the IRS. There are three 3 credit bureaus that report your credit, Trans Union, Experian and Equifax. Each bureau is independant and seperate from the other. Anyone whom wishes to correct mistakes should have a copy of their credit report from each bureau and dispute only with the bureau that reported the mistakes. Sometimes all three bureaus will report an error and sometimes only one bureau will report an error. So make sure you have all three reports.
Creditors like Sears, Visa, Home Depot and Bank of America, Collection Agency A, a court of law and the IRS, have to set up a reporting account with each bureau or bureaus. Some creditors are willing to report an account to all three bureaus and some are only willing to report to one bureau. Each creditor must submit at least so many reports per month or they are dropped from the bureaus account. This action makes each creditor more involved and accountable.
The multiplying effect of several thousand creditors, collections agencies, and courts of law coupled with three potential bureaus that report, make credit a complete time bomb rife with potential problems despite stringent work to make sure each creditor reports accurate information. Remember the old game of tell the story to the friend next to you in a circle of 30 people. After 30 people retell the story, you will find a whole different story at the end.
Make sure you are not bombed with bad credit by observing your rights and checking your credit report at least once per year and dispute any errors you may find.
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