How to dispute bad marks on your credit report

OK, we all know how important your credit report is in today's world. But what happens if there is something on your credit report that you would like to dispute? First off you should have a copy of your credit report already, if not then you need to get one right away. You can easily get a free copy of your credit report online.

Do you see something on that credit report that should not be there? You must dispute it! Any information on your credit report can be disputed! Personal information, accounts, inquiries - ANYTHING! If you have many, many accounts that you want to dispute it is probably best to just start by disputing three or four of them. If you just go and try to dispute all ten accounts on your credit report the credit bureau or credit reporting agency may not take your request to serious.

When you write your dispute letter do not get into laws, procedures or any court rulings. Make it as simple as you can. If your letter gets really confusing there is a good chance that it could possibly get tossed! Concentrate on those three or four accounts and do not mention others that you may want to later dispute and have removed. Fix these problems first then you can think about the other ones.

Once all that is done it will be time for the 'procedural request' - asking for the method of verification. If you get some accounts deleted that's good. But for those that came back "verified" you can ask for a 'procedural request.' The credit reporting agencies and credit bureaus are obligated by law to provide you with the exact method your creditors used to verify the information that they are reporting to the agency on your credit report. Requesting this information, forces the credit bureau to provide you with the information they received from your creditor as valid proof.

The creditor needs to have proof of why if they replied to your dispute stating that your account should remain on your credit report. The creditor rarely ever provides the credit reporting agency or credit bureau with this information. So, by doing this you're putting pressure on them to prove it. Otherwise they will have to remove it.

Make sure to keep records of everything the bureaus and your creditors send to you in case you find some day that you have to sue them for violating your federal rights. If you follow these credit repair tips you should be well on your way to fixing your credit for good!