Page 170 - Winning The Credit Game Bundle (CK Patrick)

reporting error is to notice a change on your credit report that
does not match your expectations from your payment history.
When this happens, it’s a good idea to first check the relevant
account to ensure that the credit report doesn’t reflect financial
activity you didn ’t know about . A forgotten unpaid bill or a
failed autopay can occasionally result in late payments or
nonpayment even though you thought your payment history
was up-to-date.
If the credit report issue involves blatantly incorrect informa-
tion or credit accounts that don’t even exist as far as you’re
aware, you may be dealing with identity theft or erroneous
reporting . In this case, you will want to file a dispute with the
credit bureau to have the incorrect or fraudulent information
removed.
Sometimes, filing a dispute successfully is as simple as using
the “dispute” feature on the credit monitoring agency’s website.
Unfortunately , other times the fraudulent or mistaken informa-
tion looks accurate, so the credit bureau may refuse to remove it
from your report initially.
When initial attempts to dispute an error on your credit
report are rejected, it may be necessary to escalate your dispute
using specific legal language to invoke the agency’s legal obliga-
tions to remove mistakes from your record. This process can be
time-consuming and may require specialized knowledge of the
legal requirements for credit reporting to obtain success.
If you do find errors in your credit reports , the Fair Credit
Reporting Act requires credit reporting agencies to correct these
errors. But the agencies may not always respond promptly , or
the first time you file a dispute. To be honest, they may try stall
tactics, hoping that you give up so they don’t have to spend the
time and money to sort out what is correct and remove the erro-
neous information. It may be necessary to go through an escala-
tion process to get errors removed or contact the creditor directly
for help in proving your case.
When disputing a mistake on your credit report, compiling a
list of supporting documents or witnesses is a good idea. If, for

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