Your credit report contains information about your debt management history and is used to calculate your credit score. Your credit score is a number used by lenders and others to determine how creditworthy you are when considering you for a loan or lease. Employers may even look at your credit report when considering you for a job or a promotion. You should check your credit report at least once per year to make sure all the information is correct. If you find errors, appeal them as soon as possible to fix your credit score.
Appeal to Both the Credit Bureau and the Creditor
When most people appeal items on their credit report, they only appeal to the credit bureau. Instead, the Federal Trade Commission recommends that you write to both your creditor and the credit bureau. When you file a complaint with your creditor, the creditor must investigate as well. If the error is on the part of the creditor, it will make the change and inform the credit bureaus. Even if the creditor rejects your claim, it must include a note explaining your dispute whenever it reports that information to the credit bureaus.
Contest Older Problems
If you have older negative information on your credit report, MSN Money suggests you may be able to remove it by appealing it. Creditors and collections groups may not respond to a credit bureau inquiry, especially if the account has aged and was a small amount, which means the information will be removed automatically. However, do not suddenly appeal all of the negative information on your credit report. According to federal laws, if a credit bureau has reason to believe your disputes are frivolous, it is no longer bound by federal law to investigate all of them. This can be especially damaging if one or more of your disputes are truly legitimate.
Goodwill Considerations
According to MSN Money, creditors may be willing to grant you some "goodwill," meaning they will voluntarily erase one or more late payments from your record. The better customer you are, the more likely a company will be willing to do this for you. For example, if you have only had one late payment over three years with the company, you are more likely to have that late payment removed than if you have had multiple late payments. In order to request goodwill, you have to write to the creditor requesting it. While the creditor may say no, your credit score will not decrease as a result of requesting goodwill.
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