Throughout our lives, banks, lenders, landlords, insurance companies, stores, and often employers, gather information about our credit for one reason or another. Due to the abuses of reporting by various agencies (or simply human error), Congress, in 1970, passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act as part of the Consumer Credit Protection Act.
It is noted that nearly half of all credit reports contain erroneous information that may prevent you from obtaining credit or achieving a fair interest rate. Therefore, it is imperative that you obtain copies of your credit report from all three major bureaus: Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax, and carefully read all the information contained. When you discover an error, you have every right to have it corrected. To do so, a simple form is sent to the reporting credit bureau (oftentimes the error is not reported on all three reports), with evidence showing why the item is false. The credit bureau is bound by law to investigate your claim that the error exists, contact the reporting agency if necessary, and correct the report if indeed the item should not be there. By taking this positive action, you can often raise your credit score in as little as thirty days when negative items are found to be falsely attached to your credit.