How to Fix My Credit Trade Lines
Whenever you open a new credit or loan account, a trade line will appear on your credit file. Each trade line will reflect basic information about the debt, such as the date the account was opened, the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor and the creditor's contact information. The Fair Credit Reporting Act stipulates that if you discover errors in your credit report, no matter how minor, you can request that those errors be corrected.
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Instructions
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Obtain your formal credit reports directly from the credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You are allowed to pull one free credit report from each credit bureau per year.
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Review all of the trade lines reflected on your report for accuracy. Look closely at the amounts listed that you owe, the dates accounts were opened and verify that the payment history reflected on each account is correct.
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Call your creditors if you find any inaccuracies in your current open accounts. Creditors are able to modify their own trade lines without your conacting the credit bureaus. If an account is no longer open, however, you may no longer be on file. This will result in the creditor being unable to change any information that was reported.
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Mail any documentation to your creditors that validates your claim that the information is inaccurate. Your most recent monthly statement should reflect accurate information that can be used as proof of a credit reporting error.
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Give your creditors time to evaluate your information and correct your trade lines. You may call back at any time to investigate what is being done to correct your credit report.
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Inform the credit bureaus of any inaccuracies you find on old, closed account trade lines or inaccuracies that current creditors refuse to remedy. You may choose to dispute the information in your trade lines by mail, telephone or online.
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Allow the credit bureaus 30 days to investigate any inaccuracies in your trade lines. A credit bureaus must complete its investigation and mail the results to you within this time frame.
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Tips & Warnings
When you call a creditor to dispute an error in the company's trade line, ask to speak to a supervisor. A customer service representative does not have the authority to make changes to your credit report.
When investigating errors in a company's contact information, remember that trade lines for medical debts often do not include the name of the creditor. This is done to protect your privacy.
Be careful when disputing information contained within closed account trade lines with the credit bureaus. If the company cannot verify that you were once a customer, a credit bureau will simply remove the entry from your credit report. If the entry is reporting as positive, this could damage your credit score.
Disputing information with the credit bureaus online or by phone does not give you the opportunity to provide supporting documentation.
