Are you facing a negative credit report? It is a time to take action and necessary steps to check all information contained in your credit report. The three major credit bureaus give out a copy of your yearly report which you must look into to understand why is it you have a low credit score causing your loans to get disapproved.

You will notice that all three reports you get from the different agencies are not totally the same. It is possible that there erroneous items reported. Possible errors that you might find in your credit report are the following:

• Late payment made although you paid on time.
• Someone else’s transaction reported on your account.
• Accounts existed more than 7 years ago
• Credit line limits should match with your credit card statement
• Collections and charged off should be within seven years time
• Erroneous personal information like birth date, social security number, employers, etc.

Once you do not agree with the items listed in your report because you believe that they are wrong, you don’t stomp your feet but you have to write dispute letters to the agency who made the error. The purpose of your dispute letters will call the attention of the credit bureau of the mistake and force them to investigate and if found correct, reverse whatever negative report they have done.

How then should you write a dispute letter? Here is a guide that can help you.

1.  Avoid citing laws, court ruling, procedures, and threaten lawsuits. Definitely, the agency knows the law.

2.  Always write with a tone of respect and kindness. Combative language will get you nowhere and can even hurt your case.

3.  In your letter, try to use specific words like “erroneous”, “outdated”, or “unverifiable” so that the credit reporting bureau will take action to investigate your claim.

4.  Include copies of information that will back up your claim. Send photocopies and not originals.

5.  You have to write clearly which items you are disputing and why.

6.  Send the letter through certified mail and request for a return receipt. Keep this copy in your records.

It is important that you should come up with a concise and straight to the point dispute letter so that credit bureau agencies will take the proper actions. Once they find that the error reported is indeed a mistake, they will have to make the necessary corrections. This is one way that you can repair your credit. Getting the best credit monitoring may help monitor improvements over time.