How to Have Negative Things Deleted Off of a Credit Report

James Kemish of the Street Directory says that more than 100 million Americans have credit reports that contain errors. Often, the incorrect information hurts their credit score, makes them pay higher interest rates and causes them trouble when they try to open new accounts. If your credit report has incorrect negative information, have it deleted. This will make it easier for you to get loans and other credit and receive more favorable terms.

Instructions

1

Identify the negative information on your three credit reports. A separate report is maintained by Equifax, Transunion and Experian, and each report may contain different information. You are entitled to a free copy of your report from each bureau every year. Get the three reports from the official Annual Credit Report website and make a list of the negative things on each report.

2

Find something erroneous about as many of the negative items as possible. Some errors will be obvious, such as accounts that do not belong to you or late payments that were actually made on time. Credit Infocenter says you should also look for obscure errors, such as the wrong credit limit or balance, an incorrect account number or date of last activity, or even the wrong name of the original creditor.

3

File a dispute for every negative item that you were able to link with an error. The three credit bureaus will let you do this online. List out the disputed items and the reasons you believe they are each incorrect. The credit bureaus will have to research them, and if they cannot be validated they will be deleted from your report.

4

Review the results of your disputes. Credit Infocenter says that the credit bureaus have 45 days to complete their investigation of your claims. Once they are done, they must send you a written notification of the results within five days. If items were deleted from your report, you will get a new copy.

5

Look for other reasons to dispute items if the credit bureau says that some of them were verified and must stay on your report. According to Credit Infocenter, you may still be able to get the negative information removed if you find the right grounds for your dispute. You can dispute an item as many times as you like, as long as you have a potentially valid reason each time. Credit Infocenter says you should wait 60 days before disputing the same item on new grounds.