How to Erase Old Information in Your Credit Reports

If you have information on your credit report that is more than seven years old and 10 in the case of bankruptcies, you can request the credit bureaus remove the information. Before you begin the process of removing old information from your credit report, first consider whether it's necessary. Of course, you want to remove any old negative information, but usually, it's a good idea to keep old positive information on your reports. The reason why is because even though the information is older, lenders still look at these accounts as a measure of your creditworthiness.

Instructions

1

Order you credit reports. You can do this by phone or online. See Resources for the three major credit bureaus website addresses.

2

Mark the information. Carefully go over all three of your credit reports and mark the old information you want to remove.

3

Write a letter or request for removal. Include the name of the creditor, account numbers and the reason why you are requesting the removal. Visitdebt-n-credit.com for a sample letter.

4

Check your credit reports. Requests to remove old information from your credit report cant take up to 30 days to complete. After this time, check your credit reports to make sure the accounts you requested for removal are gone.