Your credit score is one of the most important numbers in your financial life. It can affect whether you get approved for a mortgage or not, and will impact how much interest you would pay on that mortgage. This could be a difference of tens of thousands of dollars over the course of your life.
So, it’s important to make sure that you credit score is as high as it possibly can be. One of the ways to do that is to make sure that there are no errors on your report. If there is a balance that you don’t know of, or an account showing as unpaid (when you know you have paid it) and overdue, those types of errors can have a huge negative impact on your score.
So, the first step is to actually check your credit report. There are many sites out there that will allow you to check the report, but make sure to use one that allows you to check your report for free. From there, go through all of the accounts and balances and make sure that everything is accurate. If there is something that seems to be wrong, there are things that you can do to remove the negative items from your report.
You can fill out a dispute form, which you will want to do when you do find any type of error. This will alert the credit reporting agency that you believe there is an error, and hopefully this will get it fixed painlessly. The credit reporting agency will try to verify the item, and if they are not able to, they should remove it from the report. However, even if you are sure that it is an error, you will still want to check in to make sure that the item gets removed, or else you will still be no better off.
If the agency is not able to remove the item, you may have to contact the company directly that is showing the error, whether it is an account that you don’t believe exists, or a balance that you believe is paid (but they show as unpaid). Perhaps it is a case of identity theft (which is another reason to check your report regularly), or maybe it is just some type of accounting error. Whatever the case may be, you need to take the initiative to try to clear up the error.
If contacting the company directly does not clear up the error, you may even need to contact an attorney or the Better Business Bureau to make sure that the error is fixed, and there is no fraudulent activity. This is a pain, but not as much of a pain as not getting approved for a mortgage, or getting an interest rate that is one percent higher than it really should be.
Errors on your credit report can be very damaging to your financial future. When you find the errors, you need to take the proper steps to get them fixed. This is one thing that’s important for your financial future.