How to Use Federal Law to Remove Negative Marks From Your Credit

If your credit is poor, you may be able to use federal law to remove negative marks from your credit. The Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, allows you to receive a copy of your credit report so that you can see what your creditors are saying about you. You are entitled to one free credit report every year or whenever a company takes negative action against you, such as denying your request for credit. Under the law, you have the right to dispute mistakes.

Instructions

1

Order a copy of your free annual credit report. The only place to get an official version is at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Other companies will show you your credit report, but they will also charge you a monthly fee for credit monitoring unless you cancel your membership.

2

Look for inaccuracies on the report. In particular, look for cases where a company may have incorrectly reported your credit limit, closed accounts are still showing as open or companies have made unauthorized inquiries into your account.

3

Write a letter to the credit bureaus to dispute the errors. The letter should give detailed information about the mistake. Provide copies of any financial data that you have to prove that you are correct, such as bank statements. Keep the originals.

4

Send the letter by certified mail. Someone at the credit agency will have to sign for the letter, so you can be sure that they received it.

5

Follow up if you have not received a response within 30 days. Under federal law, the credit bureau has up to 30 days to reply to your request. If they do not do so, you can contact them to ask where you stand. Eventually, you'll receive a letter detailing the outcome.

6

Repeat this process annually. You should do this every year to be sure that your credit report is correct.