Credit Bureau Report

Your credit report is a type of consumer report and contains important contact information such as: where you work and live as well as how you pay your bills. It also may show whether you've been sued or arrested or have filed for bankruptcy. Companies called consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) or credit bureaus compile and sell your credit report to businesses. Because businesses use this information to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, and other purposes allowed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), it's important that the information in your report is complete and accurate.

Financial advisors will often recommend that you review your credit report on a regular basis. Check it for inaccuracies or omissions. This will become especially important once you find yourself considering making a major purchase. This could include anything from buying a home to purchasing an engagement ring. If your major purchase involves needing credit it would be too late then to begin the process of having something irregular on your credit report changed. By this time if you are not already set up well with a good credit history, chances are a creditor will turn down your request for assistance. When you check your credit report regularly and in advance, you have the time needed to request changes of any accuracy's of information in your credit file. Doing this will speed the credit-granting process considerably.

You can acquire a copy of your credit report free of charge when denied credit, insurance, or employment because of the information as received from a (credit reporting agency CRA.) In addition, the FCRA stipulates that it is the company that you applied to that must give you the CRA's name, address, and telephone number. Furthermore, when the consumer contacts the agency for a copy of their report within a period of 60 days of receiving a denial notice, the report must be given free and clear of any charges. In addition to this, the consumer is entitled to one free copy of their report each year when the request is made by certified mail. The following criteria must be met:

• Consumer is unemployed and plans to look for a job within 60 days.
• Consumer is on welfare.
• Consumer believes that their credit report is inaccurate because of fraud.

Unless all of the above requirements are met, a CRA may charge the consumer up to $9.00 for a copy of the said report.

If you simply want a copy of your report, you can call the CRAs listed in the Yellow Pages under "credit" or "credit rating and reporting." The consumer is wise to contact each of the three major credit bureaus listed. Consumers can expect that more than one agency will have a credit file on them and some will contain information that is different from the others.

Contact the three major credit reporting agencies using the information listed below:

Equifax, P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241; (800) 685-1111.

Experian (formerly TRW), P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013; (888) EXPERIAN (397-3742).

Trans Union, P.O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022; (800) 916-8800.

It is entirely possible that one or more of the three major credit reporting agencies will have information in your credit report that is inaccurate. It becomes your responsibility to have this important information corrected. You do not want to have a creditor, employer or insurance agent checking into your credit report only to find that something is amiss. If this were the case and you had not caught the error and had it corrected, it is highly unlikely that your request would be approved. You can understand the importance of this say if you were to be purchasing a new home. With smaller purchases you might simply be annoyed and walk way, however, with a major purchase, this simply is not something to be taken lightly.

Under the FCRA, both the CRA and the organization that provided the information to the CRA, such as a bank or credit card company, have responsibilities for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in your report. To protect all your rights under the law, contact both the CRA and the information provider.

First, tell the CRA in writing what information you believe is inaccurate. Include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. In addition to providing your complete name and address, your letter should clearly identify each item in your report you dispute, state the facts and explain why you dispute the information, and request deletion or correction. You may want to enclose a copy of your report with the items in question circled. Send your letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, so you can document what the CRA received. Keep copies of your dispute letter and enclosures.

CRAs must reinvestigate the items in question--usually within 30 days--unless they consider your dispute frivolous. They also must forward all relevant data you provide about the dispute to the information provider. After the information provider receives notice of a dispute from the CRA, it must investigate, review all relevant information provided by the CRA, and report the results to the CRA. If the information provider finds the disputed information to be inaccurate, it must notify all nationwide CRAs so they can correct this information in their copy of your file. Disputed information that cannot be verified must be deleted from your file.

If your report contains erroneous information, the CRA must correct it. If an item is incomplete, the CRA must complete it. For example, if your file showed that you were late making payments, but failed to show that you were no longer delinquent, the CRA must show that you're current. If your file shows an account that belongs only to another person, the CRA must delete it.

When the reinvestigation is complete, the CRA must give you the written results and a free copy of your report if the dispute results in a change. If an item is changed or removed, the CRA cannot put the disputed information back in your file unless the information provider verifies its accuracy and completeness, and the CRA gives you a written notice that includes the name, address, and phone number of the provider.

Also, if you request, the CRA must send notices of corrections to anyone who received your report in the past six months. Job applicants can have a corrected copy of their report sent to anyone who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes. If a reinvestigation does not resolve your dispute, ask the CRA to include your statement of the dispute in your file and in future reports.

Second, in addition to writing to the CRA, tell the creditor or other information provider in writing that you dispute an item. Again, include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. Many providers specify an address for disputes. If the provider then reports the item to any CRA, it must include a notice of your dispute. In addition, if you are correct-that is, if the disputed information is not accurate-the information provider may not use it again.