How to Increase Your Credit Score by Reporting Payments to the Credit Bureau

It is very important to improve and maintain a good credit rating. You can do this by making sure all your payments are being recorded on your report. Your credit report might not contain all your credit accounts or payment records. Some creditors don't provide information to credit reporting agencies. Sometimes current accounts with good payment records are not being reported. This can be frustrating, especially when you are trying to build credit. However, you can ask your creditor to add your missing payment history to your credit report. Your credit score can increase once your credit report is updated to show that you have in fact made payments, even if the credit report earlier showed those debts as unpaid.

Instructions

1

Order a copy of your credit report from the three major credit bureaus--Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. You can obtain a free copy of your credit reports online once a year by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. Also, if you have been turned down for credit because of something in your credit report, you can get a free copy.

2

Carefully go through your credit reports. Make a note of any accounts or payments that you made but that are not recorded on your report. It is important that you go through your entire credit report a few of times, to be certain that you do not miss relevant details.

3

Add any missing accounts to your credit file. Contact each creditor about the missing information, and request that it add your payment history to your report. Remind the creditor that your account payments are an essential part of your credit record, and that you would appreciate it reporting your payments to the three major credit bureaus.

4

Allow sufficient time for the creditor to report your payment history to the credit bureaus. You can allow about 30 days before you review your credit report for updates.

5

Get a copy of your credit report from each of the three credit bureaus, and check to see whether your missing credit history has been added to each credit report.

6

If the creditor hesitates, then contact each credit bureau and request it to add your credit payments to your report. Include proof of your payments. Mail the letter to the credit bureaus by certified mail. They might charge you a fee to add the payment information to your credit file.