One of the greatest disservices a person could do is not take the time to request and review his/her credit report. Unfortunately, most people have erroneous information, mistakes, and omissions on one or all three credit reports but have no idea. The truth is that if you want to increase your buying power and credit worthiness, this is the time to order a free credit report with no credit card required.
Many people think ordering all three credit reports are expensive but in truth, all three of these reports can be obtained free. The three reporting agencies include Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion and if you have not checked your credit report within a 12-month period, by law you are entitled to a free credit report – no credit card required. In addition, after receiving the report if mistakes are found, once you report needed changes, you are again entitled to another free report to confirm all changes have been made.
Once a year, everyone should ask for a free credit report – no credit card required from each of the credit bureaus. The reason is that different merchants and creditors report positive and negative information to one or all three agencies. Therefore, you might have 100% correct information on two of the reports but find several errors on the third. Keep in mind, the process of cleaning up credit reports is time-consuming so after you receive the reports, you should allow anywhere from three to six months to go over each line item in detail.
The way you would secure a free credit report – no credit card required is to write each of the bureaus. Remember, each of the credit bureaus receive well over 10,000 requests every day so they do not accept phone calls. However, along with making a formal request for a free credit report in writing, you could also visit the websites for each and complete the request that way. After a request has been made for a free credit report – no credit card required the bureaus have 30 days to comply with your request. Additionally, when you provide information regarding mistakes, the bureaus would have another 30 days to make changes.
The key to being successful in this process is to have supporting documentation for anything being reported incorrectly. In other words, once you order the free credit report – no credit card required and you find one of your bills that had been paid off in full three months prior showed up with an open balance and past due, that creditor needs to be contacted. Your request to the creditor would be for confirmation that they received your payment and it was applied to the account, and the account closed. If everything checks out, you would then ask them to write a letter confirming that information, which would be mailed to you.
You would go over every item listed on the reports from each bureau, marking those that need correcting. Then, you would write a brief letter to the bureau stating the mistakes and provide a copy of all documentation. For the letter, this should never be more than three paragraphs on one page. You want to state your case briefly but concisely. Again, with so many requests every day, investigators at the credit bureaus simply do not have man power or time to read long, rambling letters.
If at any time you are told the only way you can clean up your credit report is to pay someone money, and especially if someone wants money upfront to help you with the process, you need to run. The reason is that you can get a free credit report – no credit card required under the stipulations mentioned. Therefore, never give your credit card information to any company, organization, or person wanting to assist with cleanup of your credit history.
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