Errors in credit reports are a common occurrence, and it is up to the credit card holder to look out for these errors and correct them. However, most credit card holders are oblivious to looking for errors. This article will emphasize how to look for credit errors in your credit report.
Reviewing A Credit Report
A credit report is a document that contains information pertaining to a person’s credit history and the status of their credit accounts. Most credit card holders find it hard to review their credit reports, as they are unaware of what to look for.
The first thing that one should do is check for any discrepancies in the information on the credit report. The details on your credit report include your name, address, social security number, and employment history. Other details include the names of your creditors, account numbers, and account balances. You should check if all these details are accurate. If you find any discrepancies, you should write to the bank or the creditor concerned immediately to rectify them as soon as possible.
Checking Credit Report Errors
You can easily identify certain errors while checking your credit report yourself, such as misspelled names or wrong addresses. However, some errors may be hard to detect without an expert’s help, such as an incorrect date of birth, incorrect social security number, or incorrect employment history. If you find any such errors, you should write to the credit reporting agency concerned and ask them to rectify the error.
In addition to the above errors, one should also check if their credit report contains any accounts they do not recognize or are not theirs. If you do find any such accounts in your report, it is advisable to contact the creditor immediately and ask them if they have reported any late payments for which you are being charged. If there are no late payments recorded against your name, you should immediately ask the creditor to remove the account from your credit report to avoid getting charged for something that is not your fault.
Other common credit errors are:
Negative Info
Another standard error in credit reports is negative information that is too old. Any negative information that has been on your account for more than seven years should be removed from your report by law. So, if you find any such negative information in your credit report, you should contact the credit card company to get it removed.
Wrong Interest Rates
When it comes to auto loan refinancing, one of the most common errors is a wrong interest rate. When you refinance your auto loan, your interest rate should be the same as or lower than the one you had with your previous lender. If it is not, it is an error, and you should contact the lender to correct it. According to Lantern by SoFi, “Essentially, auto loan refinancing is taking out a new loan to pay off your existing car loan. Depending on individual financial situations, applicants could qualify for a lower interest rate through refinancing—which could mean lower monthly payments and saving money in the long run.”
Bizarre Credit Card Debt
If you have any credit card debt that has been sold to a collection agency, make sure that the collection agency has correctly reported it on your credit report. If they have not, it is an error, and you should contact them to correct this error.
In summary, if something else seems out of place in your credit report, check with the credit card company to see if they can explain why this information appears in your credit report. Suppose they cannot provide a reasonable explanation for this information appearing in your credit report. In that case, it is an error, and you should contact them to get this error corrected.