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Your Credit Reports: What You Can Get Removed

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If you haven’t taken a look at your credit report in a while, it might prove worthwhile to do so. Keeping track of your credit history by reviewing your credit reports can help eliminate current and future financial problems. Unbeknownst to you, there may be some past debt that makes its way onto your credit reports, identity fraud, or a line of credit you’re not responsible for. Addressing these credit issues can lead to a myriad of positive consequences, but you needn’t be intimidated by the process. Often, you can contest certain debts on your credit reports, but it’s necessary to be aware of all of your debts, your rights, and the different policies of credit bureaus.

your credit reports

The first step in removing bad or harmful debt from your credit report is determining what can actually be removed. Below are four types of debt that you can get removed from your credit reports.

YES: Errors 

Typically, errors on your credit report show up in the form of debt that cannot be verified. Unverifiable debt includes any item that cannot be verified by the original source. It is largely the responsibility of credit bureaus to complete the verification process of items on your credit reports. Such process involves bureaus contacting the institution reporting the debt to ensure the amount owed is correct.

YES: Judgments 

Judgments, as they pertain to your credit reports, include government decisions involving your individual finances. Judgments are typically determined through a court of law. Common examples include tax liens reported by the IRS and debt reported by a collection agency. You will undoubtedly know if this type of report is something you can remove from your credit reports. Judgments are issued after official court hearings. Below are two types of judgments that can be removed from your credit reports:

  • Tax Lien

Federal tax liens are commonly removed from credit reports if the debt in question is withdrawn. A federal tax lien which has been withdrawn means you have come to an agreement with the IRS to either pay off the debt in full or enter a repayment plan in order to pay off the debt in full over a specified period of time. If you have a withdrawn federal tax lien that still appears on your credit reports, you should file a report with the credit bureaus in order to get them removed.

  • Vacated Judgment

Essentially, a vacated judgment is a ruling made by a court of law that is no longer valid – vacated judgments basically no longer exist. This can occur if you have been sued and lost the case to a financial institution (e.g. collection agency or creditor). Credit reporting agencies often report the rulings on consumer credit reports, and will remain on your credit reports for seven years, regardless of whether or not they are paid.

YES: Identity Theft/Fraud

Identity theft is unfortunately becoming increasingly more common as it becomes easier for criminals to collect your information online and in store. Because identity theft is a common complaint, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that any report of identity theft must be temporarily removed an individual’s credit report by credit bureaus.

If you find that you have been a victim of fraud and it is negatively impacting your credit, you should immediately contact credit bureaus (and local authorities) to address the issue(s). First, you should file a police report at your local police department. When you file a report, you will be filing an identity theft report, which includes an identity theft affidavit. Once the report is made, you should provide a copy of the report to the Federal Trade Commission so that your credit reports can be adjusted.

Remember: Identity theft is a serious crime. For a complete list of your rights as a victim of identity theft, review the Federal Trade Commission’s “Statement of Rights for Identity Theft Victims.”

YES: Credit Cards

Okay, there are some exceptions to the types of credit cards that can be removed from your credit reports. If your report is showing debt from a card that you are simply an authorized user on, you can usually get the debt removed from your credit report. This is because authorized users are not held financially responsible for the debt. In other words, authorized users are able to make purchases with the card, but the lending company does not hold the authorized user liable for the debt incurred from those purchases.

Removing authorized credit card debt from your credit reports is relatively simple. First, you need to remove yourself from the card. Contact the credit card company to have them remove you as an authorized user. Doing so will ensure you are no longer associated with the card and the account’s debt. Once you have done this, you can follow up with credit bureaus to ensure the debt is released from your credit reports.

How to Fix Credit Report Errors

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Paying close attention to your credit report is very important. Mistakes happen and sometimes they even happen on your credit report. Paying close attention to your credit report means that you can find these mistakes rather quickly and fix credit report errors. If these errors happen they can affect your credit. Also when these errors occur, under the regulations of the FCRA, you have the right to fix them and it is the CRA’s responsibility to make sure that they are fixed properly.

In order to ensure you’re prepared if an error pops up, you must keep your payments and accounts well documented. Once they are spotted you need to work hard to fix credit report errors. Keep records of everything. This should not only be done on computer files, as many people have experienced the unexpected loss of important information that has been kept on computers. These important documents should also be kept organized in storage on paper.

When an error occurs on your report it can be from multiple different possibilities. There are an estimated 7.2 trillion people in the world today. Odds are high that you share the same name as someone else. This is one way that an error can occur on your credit report. If your name is Jacob Adams, both of these names are fairly common. It would not be unlikely for there to be another Jacob Adams. There could be a mix up where information from the persons’ matching name is placed on your credit report.

Another mistake that could occur involves social security numbers. At times another SSN could be included in your credit report. More often than not, the difference between the two SSNs is only by one number.

A Dispute:

Since there are many different types of problems that can occur, the process and information needed to fix the problem is sometimes different. However, the way that you begin to fix credit report errors is usually the same. Most national credit bureaus have a place to begin a dispute online. This can be a good place to begin. Once you have completed the process of filing an online dispute it is also good to send a detailed letter in the mail. This way you can tell your story clearly and accurately. Here are a few things that your letter should include:

  • Accurate, currant contact information such as telephone numbers and your address
  • A detailed explanation of the issues at hand
  • A copy of your report with the problem areas highlighted or circled
  • Clear proof that the information on the report is wrong and include the correct information

This letter should also be sent by certified mail so that you know exactly when the bureau receives it. You also need to keep a record of everything that you have sent to the bureau.

For example if there is information on your credit report stating that you lived at an address where you never lived you would want to provide evidence proving that you lived at a different address in the given time period.  If there is an incorrect social security number on your report you will need to send a copy of your social security card. You will need accurate proof for each dispute and it is likely that you will need to provide around 50 pages of in-depth information.

As soon as you have sent all of your information to the credit bureau, you should also send a letter to creditors who gave the credit bureau the wrong information. This letter is in order to notify them that you are filing a dispute. You should also include the same proof that was sent to the credit bureau proving that the information is incorrect.

When trying to fix credit report errors that are more serious such as incorrect bankruptcies it is extremely important to be very persistent and provide all of the necessary information. Bob Sullivan outlines great guidelines to use in such cases in “Bob Sullivan on The Red Tape Chronicles”.

Review Your Report:

The CRA has 30 days to respond to your dispute. After this mark, if you have not heard anything you need to call for assistance and should keep notes on each conversation. After you have received a response from the credit agency they will send you a new copy of your report if it has been changed. You should also be given the information of the creditors or merchants that ar being disputed against. It the problem has not been fixed and you know that it is wrong then you can continue to pursue a solution. Also if you are being ignored or not being treated fairly you can report this to the agency that the creditors report to. It is a trying process but it is very important that you and the others involved work to fix credit report errors.