Credit Repair

There are three major credit bureaus that collect information on you Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian (formerly TRW) but they do not cross verify their information.

**In fact, it is estimated that one third of all credit reports contain errors serious enough to cause the denial of credit, housing or employment.

If one credit bureau contains errors, the other two may or may not contain errors, or they may contain entirely different errors. Submitting a dispute to one credit bureau does not take care of errors reported by the other two. To cover every base in credit repair, you should get copies of all three credit reports, and dispute each one separately.

The law says that if you don't qualify for a free report, you should pay no more than $9 (this amount usually goes up at the beginning of each year) to obtain a report from Equifax, Trans Union or Experian.

When you request your report, provide the following information:

your full name (including generations such as Jr., Sr., III)
your birth date
your Social Security number
your spouse's name (if applicable)
your telephone number, and
your current address and addresses for the previous five years.

You should also attach a copy of the credit report that contains the errors you wish to dispute. Circle each error and write a detailed explanation clarifying why each item is inaccurate. Include any supporting documentation you have.