We've all seen the commercials with the hip, lip-syncing bands spitting rhymes about how cool it is to check your credit score. I along with a lot of other people sat there not thinking twice about it. I pay my credit card in full every month, I rent my apartment and my car is paid off. What could possibly be wrong with my credit score?
Well in short, a lot of things could be wrong. But none of them are necessarily your fault. For instance you might have had a mortgage that you'd never missed a payment on, which would be a positive for you! But if that was missing from your report for some reason, this could affect your score.
You could also get in trouble if you had a very common name. Another Joe Smith from across the country could be running rampant with his credit across the country on an all-expenses paid Elvis Impersonator Tour, and somehow if the lines are crossed, this could show up on your report and reflect rather poorly.
This is why you should check your credit report at least once a year no matter how good your situation might be. Catching these erroneous errors quickly can keep you from being surprised later on when you want to take out a loan for a car or a house. In order to fix these mistakes, contact the specific bureau in which the error appears. Identify the items you are disputing, tell them why you're disputing them and request deletion or correction.
Also contact the creditor who is responsible for the error and let them know that you are disputing the information with the bureau. This whole process could take as long as 90 days.
So remember, no matter how squeaky clean you think your credit report is, it never hurts to check.
