As soon as that you know how to ask for a copy of your credit report, the next thing you need to do will be verifying the file for accuracy. Start by looking over the personal information area of your credit report. Be attentive so that your name is listed and spelled correctly, and so should be your current and past addresses. Verify to be sure your date of birth is listedcorrectly, and also your current and former employers. If you see any error, start a list documenting everything that you will have to dispute with the credit bureau.

Next, verify the public record part of the report. This is the part of your report that records any tax liens, judgments, bankruptcies, or legal claims against you; verify the list with patience to figure out if any of the data contains errors. Put down anything that is false or that has been satisfied (paid off) to your list of changes to be made.

The following part to verify will be the collection history part of your report. This part contains the collection agency that is working to collect the debt from you. The original creditor with whom your debt originated will be listed under the collection agency; with patience verify all of the dates of account openings and closings. Go through all balances owed for accuracy and compare with the date of reporting to figure out if the creditor is updating the balances properly. If any info is listed in the collection part that is false, write it down on your list. Also write down that each creditor should have contact data listed.

The last part you will verify is the current activity part. This shows all of your currently active accounts. For example, the collection history section, you should verify the accounts data with patience (dates opened and closed, balances owed, last reporting date, etc. )#), verify to make sure the creditor's contact data is listed, if you need to correct any data in this part of your report. Following, make sure all accounts you have closed are listed as closed, including the date they were closed. Finally, verify the late activity columns to figure out if any of your payments have been documented as late.

As soon as you have reviewed your credit report and have saved the errors, you are ready to dispute any errors you have found.

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