Why should you dispute your credit report?

How can your credit report affect you?

Having a ‘poor’ or ‘bad’ credit rating can have a long-term impact on your capacity to secure credit and financial services for years. 

Your official credit score is represented as a value between 0 – 1000, with lower figures classed poorly and highly figures seen as extremely desirable. The report collates various elements from your financial past including your history of repaying debt, late payments, defaults, and bankruptcies. This information allows financial providers to decide what services to offer or even whether to lend to you or not.

This can lead to situations where individuals with ‘good’ credit are able to secure credit lines, hold favourable rates of repayment, or access a range of flexible repayment options. By contrast, individuals with poor credit scores can find themselves declined for cards, facing higher interest rates, and struggling to make the most of the options available to them on the market. 

However, it isn’t only potential lenders that can see your information.

Your credit report can also be accessed by individuals such as landlords, mortgage brokers, and even future employers. This can lead to a narrowing of options, something that can be even more difficult to manage if you are in financial difficulty. 

How does disputing it help?

If you are dealing with bad credit, it’s important to keep a close eye on your financial records. While all financial institutions have rigorous steps, checks, and processes – it is always worth querying elements on your credit report that you believe should not be present.

If you correctly dispute credit errors, the company will strike the record from your report, improving your credit rating as a direct result. If that is not the case, you can get better insight into what caused the issues and take steps to prevent it from happening again in future. 

What else should you know?

If you want to dispute information on your credit report, you can take the issue up with your provider directly. This can be done by calling their designated hotline or helpdesk or writing to a representative. Once the query has been sent, most providers will have 28 days to respond. During this time, a note will be placed on your credit report detailing the nature of the query. If successful, the change will be enacted on the next data update cycle, which is normally a monthly update for most providers. 

This process can be long and arduous. If you are unsure about how to proceed, it is often helpful to get in touch with an external professional advisor directly. They will be able to guide you through the process and provide advice about language and terminology to make your claim as clear and effective as possible. 

What next?If you are struggling to dispute issues with your credit report and need help and guidance, you can seek help by visiting us at Crediful.com. This will let you get a sense of the options and services available to you or pick up with a member of our team directly – letting us help you clear your report and continue living and working unimpeded.