What exactly is a credit report, why should you care, and how do you get one?
A credit report is a document compiled by credit bureaus which shows past financial history. This becomes important if you’ve filed bankruptcy in the past, want a new mortgage, or want to make a large purchase and need a loan.
The three major credit bureaus where you can get credit reports online are Equifax.com, Experian.com, and Transunion.com.
Credit bureaus mainly get data about you from creditors. You can also expect court records to be searched for lawsuits, judgments, and bankruptcies. There is also other information in a credit report, including things like your social security number, employment history, past and present addresses, current and former names, and more specifically you banking history (opened and closed accounts, amount of loans given, current balance, etc.).
For Georgia residents, the best way to clean up your credit report involves working with some credit agencies, being smart in the future with loans you take, and hiring professional counsel who can help you in case you see potential problems in the future. You can actually get all your credit reports for free if you contact annualcreditreport.com to get them; this is important because you need these in order to improve credit.
In some cases, you can ask for more than one credit report. If you are unemployed and looking for work, for example, you’re entitled to an additional copy. If not, you can pay a small fee to get your additional credit report.
Clean Up Errors in Your Credit Report
Go through your credit report and look for inconsistencies and problems you see immediately. Out-of-date and incorrect information are often the most obvious. For out-of-date info, you can actually get them taken off your credit report, and the same is the case with incorrect information. We’ll go over that more soon.
Out-of-date info on your credit report includes:
-Negative info that’s more than 7 years old, such as lawsuits and criminal records
-Bankruptcies reported more than 10 years after you were discharged
Incorrect information on your credit report may include:
-Wrong names, numbers, social security numbers, employment info or other personal information
-Bankruptcies which don’t state what form of bankruptcy (Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy usually)
-Bank accounts which are not yours, or lawsuits you had nothing to do with
-Incorrect late payment records
-Any account you closed that doesn’t say it was “closed by consumer”
Clean Up Credit Report
There are many way to clean up your credit report, but what can be difficult is removing incorrect information, if not recognizing it immediately. You can request removal of incorrect information, which is simple. Sometimes the credit bureau won’t agree with that, and you can appeal. In most cases, the incorrect info can be removed from your report by filing documents the credit bureau gives you.
Rebuilding Your Credit in Georgia
After you’ve cleaned up the report, and corrected mistakes, it’s time to get work on improving your credit score. It may take a few years, but once you start regularly paying bills on time, get a credit card and pay it on time, you can have more opportunities. If you’re goal is, for example, to buy a home, it may take 4-5 years before your credit score allows you to get a home and mortgage.
