It is because not everyone knows that their credit report contains more errors that it is worth. Thats right, it contains errors, and the number of errors it contains is anybodys guess. The reason for this is the sheer volume of data that the credit bureaus need to process and keep track of. And then one lender who had a contract with say Experian changes their contract so that now they report to Equifax, and the problem becomes even greater.

So think about it all consumers and all businesses, past and present, times the number of open accounts that each of them currently has and has had during their lifetime. This amounts to several BILLION records that they need to keep track of. If only 1% of that data is in error, that still means that over a million records are wrong in their database. Now compare that to the studies that indicate that up to 30% of that data contains errors, and you can see why this is a huge problem.

Something that most consumers are not aware of is they THEY have the responsibility for making sure that those errors get corrected. They do not self-correct over time. The only way will ever get fixed so that the right data is showing is if YOU dispute the data with the credit bureaus. And you need to do it separately with each credit bureau TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian because all three of them probably have different errors!

The thing that results from having bad data in your credit profile and credit history is that your credit score is not computed accurately. Your credit score is a number that they have come up with to judge your credit-worthiness. Based on these errors, it could be better than it should be, but it is more likely worse than it should be.

You need to get those errors and get that negative information removed. How do you do that? You start by getting yourself a copy of your credit report, and get a separate report from each agency. Read through the report very carefully and note anything that is wrong or is in error. Then file a dispute letter.

After you have filed a dispute form with the credit bureau, they then have 30 days to either verify the information as being accurate, or deleting it from your credit report. The thing that makes that decision is whether or not the lender verifies the information as being accurate, or just plain does not respond. If this is an account that has been paid off for several years, even though you had some problems with the account early on, the lender may just not take the time to respond at all, in which case the data needs to be deleted.

Then there is the stuff that is REALLY wrong, and you have every right to request that your credit report reflect accurate information. The procedure is exactly the same file a dispute with the credit bureau stating the facts, and they have 30 days to either get that information verified or to remove it.

When your credit report is squeaky clean, your resulting credit score will be as high as it should be, and that is, after all, what you wanted to accomplish!