| In order to clear your record of a negative rating, you | | | | consumers a chance to correct any information about |
| must first check the credit report for any inaccuracy | | | | their account that might be inaccurate. It is up to the |
| or see if it has been verified by the credit company. | | | | creditor or the credit bureaus to prove otherwise. A |
| You may be surprised how often information in your | | | | dispute letter has to be sent to the credit bureau. Upon |
| credit report has not passed through careful scrutiny | | | | receipt of the dispute letter, the credit bureau is given |
| and how much of it is erroneous. Only when proven | | | | 30 days to verify that their information is 100% correct. |
| inaccurate or unverifiable can you remove a negative | | | | If not, they must correct or update their data. |
| credit rating from your report. | | | | Otherwise, they must remove it from their file. In so |
| According to a study conducted by the U.S Public | | | | doing, the consumer is cleared of the negative credit |
| Interest Research Group in June 2004, 79% of the | | | | rating. |
| consumer credit reports that they have surveyed had | | | | This is just one of the ways on how to remove a |
| some kind of error or mistake. Up to 25% were | | | | negative credit rating. You could also try sending debt |
| serious enough to warrant rejection of credit | | | | validation letters to debt collectors or pay for delete |
| application or increased interest rates. | | | | letters to creditors. The best method though, is to send |
| The credit bureaus that do the credit reports are | | | | the dispute letter. Although most credit bureaus do not |
| companies that collect information about consumers, | | | | investigate credit accounts since they just check their |
| and provide the report to people who are willing to pay | | | | e-Oscar system, if no action has been done after 30 |
| for the information. All consumers are entitled to 1 free | | | | days of receipt of your letter, just keep sending those |
| report yearly, but must pay for any additional reports | | | | dispute letters until they do take notice and you get |
| that they may require. | | | | your desired results. |
| Fortunately, the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives | | | | |