Your credit report is incredibly important, as it affects your ability to get loans and the interest rate you have to pay on those loans. If you notice there is an error on your credit report or you think a falsehood is affecting your score, it's very important to get the negative items off of your credit report as soon as possible.
Step 1
Obtain a credit report from annualcreditreport.com. CNN Money states this is the only place to receive a completely free credit report, and you can request a copy once each year. Once you have your credit report, you can check for errors and other important information. Make several copies of your credit report so you can keep one and mail them out as needed to the credit reporting agencies.
Step 2
Look through your credit report to see if there are any errors. According to FinancialWeb.com, approximately 25 percent of all credit reports received in 2004 had errors. Take special note in looking for errors if you have a common name, as recommended by FinancialWeb.com, which states many credit errors involve information from entirely different people.
Step 3
Highlight all of the errors you find in your credit report. On the side of the page near the error, write down why the information is wrong, such as a wrong address or a false charge.
Step 4
Write a letter which includes you name, address, phone number, Social Security number and why the errors are incorrect. Send the letter along with a separate, highlighted and notated copy of your credit report to all three of the credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Step 5
Wait for up to 30 days to hear back from the credit reporting agencies. If they agreed the information which you highlighted was incorrect, they will send you a new copy of your cleaned up credit report. CNN Money recommends checking your credit report every year to make sure there are no errors.
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