Credit is important. Good or bad credit affects consumers’ ability to buy a car, get an education or obtain housing. Increasingly, the status of your credit can even determine whether an employer will hire you.
Credit reporting agencies are required to maintain correct and complete files. Consumers can check to see if the information is correct. The three nationwide credit reporting companies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, are required by federal law to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit report once every 12 months. These free reports can be obtained at annualcreditreport.com.
Many businesses, such as debt collectors, phone companies, banks and credit card companies, provide information to credit reporting agencies. Consumers have the right to dispute this information when they believe it is incorrect. When a consumer properly disputes incorrect credit information, credit reporting agencies must usually must note the dispute on the individual’s credit report.
However, all too often, even though consumers dispute information in their credit report, this dispute is not identified. Sometimes this is the fault of the credit reporting company, and sometimes it’s the fault of the debt collector, phone company, bank, credit card company or the like.
Either way, the failure to report that a credit line is disputed is often a violation of law. If you disputed a credit line and believe that it was not properly identified on your credit report, we would be happy to discuss the matter with you.