A part of my spring cleaning routine is not only cleaning out my closet, but also cleaning up my credit report and ensuring that the credit freeze I placed on file is still in full effect. Before, I tell you how – here’s the why.
10 years ago, my identity was stolen by someone I knew and what made it worse for me is that we had the same first name (different spelling). It took me about 2 years and a lot of phone calls to begin to even repair the amount of damage that was done. Once that was completed and cleared off my credit report – the same person did it again 6 years later. Which meant I had to repeat the cycle of making phone calls, filing police reports, writing letters, and etc.
Every year since then to protect myself I place what’s call a credit freeze with all 3 credit bureaus on my file. When this is placed on your account, you will get a call to verify anytime there is a request to open a new account and the creditor will ask a series of question to ensure that it’s you. For example, “You have a car loan, which company do you have one with” and other questions only you would be able to answer.
Even if you haven’t been a victim of identity theft, this is something I would suggest that everyone does to prevent it from ever happening and to give you a peace of mind. What’s even better? It’s free to place a credit freeze on your account with Transunion and Equifax, depending on the state you live in Experian is $10 (one-time fee). Please use the links below to do so:
Equifax
https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo.jsp
Transunion
Experian
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
After placing the credit freeze, another thing I did was attempted to clean up my credit report via all 3 credit bureaus. Why do this? First, if successful it will increase your credit score – maybe there’s a hardship inquiry that hasn’t been removed from your report as yet, incorrect information, or just items you want off. So, here’s the thing there’s a lot of companies out there that you can pay to do this, but it’s not guaranteed. Why pay $99 a month for something you can potentially do for yourself? How do you do this you may ask? Great question!
1st – Create an account with the 3 credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion) via their online dispute website.
2nd – It will list everything that’s on your credit report from addresses, phone numbers, hard inquiries, and anything that is negatively impacting your credit score. You can literally dispute everything you see from late payments and etc. There is a section for you to explain why you are disputing the information and upload any documents you might have, but this is optional.
TIP – If you have any accounts in collections that you haven’t paid off. Write the number down and call them to come up with a settlement. 95% of the time, they will work with you to come up with an agreement – for instance having you pay 30% of what you owe via an installment payment plan. Once you pay your agreement – they will remove the negative information from your file.
3rd – Submit your dispute and within 30 days you will get communication via email on what items fell off your report; if they were unable to remove some items they will tell you why. If there is something still there that you need to remove to get that car, house, or funding then follow my tip above. Once, the items have been removed, allow 20 days for your credit score to be updated.
Here are the links to file your dispute(s) with each of the credit bureaus.
Transunion
https://dispute.transunion.com/dp/dispute/landingPage.jsp
Experian
https://www.experian.com/disputes/main.html
Equifax
https://www.ai.equifax.com/CreditInvestigation/initLoginDisputePage.action
I hope this was helpful and until next time, have a fabulous week!
Chelle
Islandgirlchelle 