credit report errors
Hi Terry,
I recently pulled up my credit report and found that my information was all incorrect and credit is ruin. I lost my house back in 2008 and have been trying to get on track the last seven years. I have now clear all debt of my knowledge and have establish good credit with my VonMaur credit card and have been working for VonMaur for four years but the other night when I went to looking up my credit report it didn’t show any of my current information, like where I live now or work and didn’t give me a score (purposely I still don’t exist). What do I do to fix my situation??? Please help. I don’t know what to do or where to turn.
Terry Says: OK, this just shows that you can’t rely on just one credit card to establish or re-establish credit — especially a department store card. So there are two steps.
First, if ANYTHING on your credit report is an error, you are entitled to dispute it. Make sure you have the current report from all three major agencies. Go to www.AnnualCreditReport.com — (this is the ONLY place) — and get a free report from each bureau, without having to sign up for a protection service. Then, when you get your report you can easily dispute — online– anything that you believe is an error. Remember the bad stuff should go off your report in 7 years (a bankruptcy stays on your report for 10 years).
Next, you need a credit card that will report your current good behavior to the credit bureaus. Go to www.Bankrate.com, and search under
Secured Cards. You will open a savings account at the bank of the card issuer — and that amount you have on deposit becomes your line of credit. Then they will give you a regular Visa or MasterCard, and you can use it any place you could use a regular credit card. When you get the monthly bill, pay it ON TIME AND IN FULL. They will start reporting your good credit habits to the credit bureaus. Soon you’ll start receiving applications from other card issuers. But be careful, use the credit wisely — and be sure to pay on time and in full every month. That’s how you build new, good credit.
