Step 1: Get Copies of Your Credit Reports

• Visit our educational article "Writing Your Dispute Letters" for the address of all three credit reporting agencies. You can just write a letter or call 1-877-322-8228 for your free annual credit report. If you call, your credit reports will usually arrive in the mail within 5-7 days. Remember to keep BOTH the reports and the envelopes when they arrive.
• Cut, paste and customize your letters with your information and then send it out to all of the major credit reporting agencies.
• Save any and all of credit denial letters you receive, including the envelopes.
• Save clean, original copies of each of the credit reports you have received after you send your requests out.
• Save a good clean copy of what you send to the credit bureaus requesting the reports.
• ON LINE CREDIT REPORTS - USERS BEWARE: You may be tempted to get your credit reports on-line either directly from the credit bureaus or through a "consolidated" credit reporting service. We don't recommend online reports for several important reasons: 1) Online services have been "hit or miss" with some of the credit bureaus - meaning you end up paying their fee and they tell you to contact them in writing for "security" reasons; 2) Consolidated reports are harder to link the particular source of the incorrect information; 3) The print outs are often harder to read than original reports; 4) In the event of a litigation, the CRA's like to argue that YOU may have altered your own credit report downloaded from the internet in an effort to file suit. C
• OUR ADVICE: Take the time and send the manual letters or call the number listed above and order your credit reports by phone. It creates a great paper trail in the event you need to file a law suit.

Step 2: Examine All Credit Entries & Inquiries

• Once you get all three of your consumer credit reports back, sit down and thoroughly review every account and company name on your reports.
• Make sure that all of the information on the account, including late payment history, high credit, and monthly payments is accurate for every account.
• Make accurate notes of any errors because you will use this information to create a second letter to request that your report be corrected.
• Next, thoroughly examine and review every person and company listed who has obtained your credit report.
• If there are inquiries on your credit reports which you don't recognize, try to investigate them thoroughly and eliminate any possibility that the access of your credit report was permissible.
• Your current creditors, insurance underwriters, debt collectors who are collecting from you, and people who expect to loan you money have a right to access your credit report.
• Inquiries made for promotional purposes are legal as well and are usually indicated with a special code such as "PRM" for promotional or other specific language on the credit report and do not lower your credit score. Also, pulling your own credit report in writing does NOT lower your credit score.

Step 3: Send A Dispute Letter To Each CRA

• Visit our educational article "Writing Your Dispute Letters" for instruction on how to draft your dispute letters seeking to correct inaccurate information.
• Again, cut, paste or customize your letter with your information and then send it out to all of the credit reporting agencies that are showing the inaccurate information.
• ALWAYS send your dispute letters via certified mail/return receipt to avoid the Credit Reporting Agencies from arguing that they never received your dispute or it was lost in the mail.
• You are not required to, but you may also choose to use the correction form provided by the credit bureau along with your new credit report. Sometimes these forms have too little space or not enough room to explain the problem you have.
• Save a good clean copy of the dispute letter you sent to the credit bureaus requesting the corrections.

Step 4: Review Your Updated Credit Reports

• Within 30 - 45 days, after they have received your Request Letter in Step 4, you can expect a copy of any updated credit report showing what corrections have been made, what has been deleted, and what remains unchanged.
• If there is still inaccurate information on your credit reports, then it is time to go to Step 5.

Step 5: Contact Our Office If the Errors Persist

• If you have followed all of these Steps in writing, and 1) your credit information is still inaccurate, or 2) the creditor refuses to correct it, or 3) someone has accessed your credit report illegally, contact us.
• We will consult with you for free and advise you of the best course of legal action to correct your credit report or to vindicate your rights.
• Your claims under the FCRA must be brought within two years or they will be forever barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Consult a competent attorney, like our firm, immediately if you have inaccurate information on your credit report that the credit bureaus will not remove.