Credit scores affect every aspect of our financial lives including qualification for loans and mortgages, the interest rates we pay, employment opportunities, and even insurance premiums. Repairing your credit profile is one of the most important financial decisions you can make.

What do you do if you are looking through your credit report and spot an error? What most people don't realize is that it happens all the time. Mistakes are usually accidental, but there is something you can do about it. Erroneous numbers on your report bring down your whole credit score, so you should get them fixed promptly by contacting your credit agency.

You do not have to go to any special person and pay a fee to get this corrected. First, make a copy of your entire credit report. Circle any items that you believe to be erroneous and make sure that you inspect it again very carefully to be sure that nothing else is left out. Next, you need to write a letter to the credit agency describing all of your disputes. The address to the agency should be on the credit report. Be sure to include any copies of paperwork that is relevant to the disputes in which you are reporting and that all of these documents that you are sending are not the originals because you will probably not get these documents back, and this could cause a problem. You may also want to send this by certified mail and request a receipt to verify that your package was indeed shipped and received.

Now it is up to the reporting agency to investigate your claim and verify that there is in fact an error with your credit report. In the event that the creditor cannot prove that the information is correct, the entry must be removed with no questions asked. Many times it has just been an error on their part and they will tell the reporting agency and the entry will be removed. Once the investigation is finished, and if changes are made, the agency will send you copy of your credit report free of cost so that you can review the changes.

Errors happen in all parts of life and it is no surprise that credit reports are, unfortunately, no different. Keep your cool as you deal with the mistakes-your credit agency should be willing to help you if you remain calm and polite. It is up to you to review these papers every time you receive one, because if you don't go over them you may not even know that your credit score is suffering based on false entries.