Legally Remove Negative Items – Reasons Why Credit Repair Is Both Legal And Advisable
Your credit score has a considerable impact on your financial health. After all, this is the statistic that lenders would use to judge your credit worthiness. Lenders’ decisions on whether to approve or deny your mortgage or car loan application would largely hinge on how high or low your score is. You would also be given either a low or high annual percentage rate (APR) on your loans depending on which credit score bracket you belong. All the factors that are taken into account in calculating this three-digit number came from information presented in your credit reports. There are three nationally recognized consumer reporting agencies that issue these reports and they are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Because of the significant effect of your credit score and credit reports on your finances, you have the right to ensure that all of the information being used to assess you are accurate.
According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from the credit bureaus if you experience being denied an application for credit, insurance, or employment. The three credit bureaus are also obligated to provide you a free copy of these reports once every 12 months if you request for them. A consolidated report can be requested from these bureaus’ centralized website, annualcreditreport.com.
You have the right to dispute any inaccurate negative information on your reports. The FCRA stipulates that it is the responsibility of the credit bureau and the provider of the inaccurate information, whether it be your creditor or debt collector, to correct the erroneous information in your report. The credit bureaus are given 30 days to investigate your dispute.
If you have the perception that credit report errors are rare, you might want to find out the results of a survey conducted by the US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG) in 2004. According to this survey of credit reports across 30 states, 79% of the reports contained varied types of mistakes. 25% of the reports had mistakes that were serious enough to result in denial of credit.
Given these information, it would really be advisable to exercise vigilance against possible inaccuracies in your credit reports.
