Fixing a credit report begins with looking closely at this document. You can get a copy of your credit report for free online; just search for “free credit report”. You can request your credit report for free once per year. You can also get a free copy of your credit report if you are denied credit based on the report provided by a particular credit reporting agency, as long as you request this within 30 days of the denial.

Reading your credit report should answer the question of why you were turned down. However, what’s the next step? What do you do if you see inaccurate items on your report or ones which you feel to be unfair, even if they are accurate?

If you want to dispute anything on your credit report, then you can do so in writing to the credit agency. They are required to look into any disputes within 30 days. Send your request by certified mail along with copies of canceled checks or any other documents which support your dispute.

The credit bureau will contact the organization which reported the item in dispute. If your do not receive a responce with proof within 14 days the credit agency must remove the item from your credit report. They will send you an updated copy of your credit report and if you request, a copy of this new report will also be furnished to any creditor who has seen your report in the previous six months. However, if you want this done, ask the bureau to do so – they will not do this unless you ask.

A lot of creditors won’t bother to write back to the credit agency if the item in dispute is less than $500 or is over a year old. Fixing a credit report can be done, even if the items contained are accurate. Even when you don’t manage to have a dispute resolved to your satisfaction on the first attempt, you are permitted to submit another dispute after 30 days.

If it is impossible to remove an item that you have disputed, you are permitted to add a brief explanation, which will be visible to anyone who pulls your credit report. This explanation can be up to 100 words in length.

If there is a long history of late payments and defaults, fixing your credit score can be a long term project. Even if this is the case, you can clear up some items and give an explanation of others. This kind of effort will go along way in helping to repair your credit report.