Credit Report Errors - To Dispute or Not Dispute

What to do if you have a credit report error or an accuracy? Credit report errors and inaccuracies are really common. Inaccurate information can land on your report through anything from a clerical error to someone having the same name as you, or identity theft. And identity theft is on the rise and it can take a lot of work to correct.

When an inaccuracy does happen, you have the right to dispute the inaccurate info. When your file is labeled, as in dispute, lenders know such as us, that whatever they're looking at in this credit report is not accurate because the trade line that you're disputing or the item that you're disputing is removed from the scoring model. So that essentially leaves you with two options. Accept the errors, which may be fine with us, depending on your loan type or guidelines, or delay applying for the mortgage until the dispute has been taken care of.

And I would say, please let a professional help you decide if it’s really necessary to make your report a hundred percent accurate. If you do decide on the latter, you can also seek guidance from an attorney or consumer advocacy group before submitting the dispute. Once you have submitted this dispute or complaint to the Credit Bureau that has the error, they take that complaint and reach out to the company on your behalf. Once that dispute has been received, the company reporting that dispute has 30 days to answer you. This is actually under federal law. When you get your answer, however, the error still may be there. And that 30 plus days it took to do this could have been time spent getting into your new home. So if you do have questions on your credit report or inaccuracies or errors, please let me know.

If you have questions, let me know.