Credit Reporting Disputes

Yes. While you are entitled to a free report every year from the three major credit agencies, you are also entitled to a free report when you receive a credit, employment, or insurance denial letter. You should receive a notice of this right after the denial.  You must ask the reporting agency (as noted on your denial) withincontinue reading…

No. You are entitled to a free annual credit report from each of the three big credit agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) every 12 months.  You are also entitled to a free report when you receive adverse credit decisions (e.g. denied credit, employment, or home rental) that were based on your credit report information.  It’scontinue reading…

Yes. While the majority of information may be reported on all three agencies’ reports, there can be information damaging to your score on one that is not on another, as some creditors report to specific agencies and/or one of the agencies may pick something up on public records the others miss (or get wrong where shouldcontinue reading…

Yes. A credit reporting agency can report most accurate negative information for seven years and bankruptcy information for 10 years.  After the appropriate time period, as laid out in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, has passed, the negative information cannot be reported anymore.

Yes. Inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information must be removed or corrected, usually within 30 days.  Under the Fair Crediting Reporting Act (“FCRA”), credit reporting agencies must investigate your dispute and unless verified by the reporting creditors (called “furnishers” under the FCRA), they must remove the items from your file.  The furnishers must investigate when contactedcontinue reading…