Identify Inaccuracies

Ideally, your credit report is an accurate, up-to-date reflection of your credit history. However, since we don't live in an ideal world, there are many reasons that your credit report could contain inaccuracies that might prevent you from receiving the credit you deserve.

The good news is you can take action to keep your report accurate. By checking your credit report regularly you can easily defend yourself against any inaccuracies or mixed up credit files.

Many inaccuracies on a credit report can be the result of simple human error, and are therefore are not difficult to dispute. Of course, if you don't order your credit report, you might never know about it.

Whether the inaccuracies relate to payments not credited, late payments, or data mixed in from the credit file of someone else with a name similar to yours, you will want to contact the credit bureau to dispute inaccurate information promptly.

When evaluating your report for inaccuracies, ask yourself the following questions:

· Look at all the accounts listed. Do the accounts look familiar? Are they yours? Credit fraud can happen. Make sure no one is using your credit to commit fraud.

· If you suspect that an account is not yours, even if it has a zero balance, ask your credit-reporting agency to investigate. Don't hesitate!

· Do you have a common name? If you have a common name like Bob Smith, you are more likely to have your account mixed up with another consumer.

· Have you co-signed for a loan? If you've co-signed for a loan, it becomes part of your credit history. You're responsible for that debt. If the person you cosigned with is late on payments that will show up negatively on your credit report too.