Most everyone knows how important your credit report is… it can determine whether or not you are eligible for various loans, credit cards, and even some jobs and other social positions. A poor credit report can have a negative effect on your life in general as you find it much more difficult to get some of the things that you need, whereas a good credit report can open doors for you that you might not have even known existed.

If you have poor or bad credit, it's possible that you might not even know it… and to make matters worse, you might not even deserve it. It is entirely possible for companies that make reports to credit bureaus to make mistakes, and unfortunately those mistakes can have a serious effect on your credit score.

The information provided below is designed to get you on the right track to checking your credit report information and making sure that everything is as it should be… and getting things corrected if they are wrong and causing damage to your credit score.

Checking Your Report

Obviously, the first thing that you need to do to check the accuracy of your credit report is to obtain a copy of your report. These can be purchased, gotten free through certain companies and services, and in some cases are even provided free by the government if you live in certain countries or meet certain criteria. Once you've received a copy of your credit report, take a little time to look over it and get a feel for how the data is displayed… it may vary slightly, depending upon which reporting agency issued the report.

Confirming The Information

Begin checking over your credit report to see which accounts and loans of yours are listed and what the status of each is. You might not find all of your current accounts and loans on the report, but don't be alarmed… some lenders and credit issuers don't report regularly or at all. Check over your information for any accounts that you simply don't recognize, and make a note of which accounts you do recognize and what they correspond with in regards to your bills.

Finding Errors

At this point, you should make a note of any accounts on your report that you don't recognize since they can be a warning sign of identity theft. You should also begin checking the status of each listing that you do recognize… make sure that accounts that are up-to-date don't list you as having missed payments, and that accounts which are no longer active aren't listed as open and behind. Take the time to make notes of any incorrect information that you find, because there's a good change that any incorrect information might be bringing down your credit score more than it should.

Fixing Credit Errors

Once you've compiled a listing of mistakes and accounts that you don't recognize, you should draft a letter to the issuer of the credit report to question the authenticity of the account claims. The credit reporting agency will begin to investigate the claims, requesting up-to-date information from the account issuer to show that the account listings that they have made are valid. If the information is found to be incorrect, it will usually be repaired; if the account issuer doesn't respond to the inquiry within a certain time limit, then the negative report will be removed entirely. This can greatly improve your credit score with minimal effort on your part.

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