How To Erase Fraudulent Activity On Your Credit Report

Everyone has heard the horror stories. The stories about
individuals whose credit score is ruined from errors and
fraudulent activity that is posted on their credit report.
Stolen identities, stolen credit card numbers, and stolen
Social Security Numbers, can all be used to fraudulently
apply for credit on your credit history. There are a few
simple rules to keep in mind if ever you have fraudulent
activity reported on your report.

Always remember to dispute the fraudulent activity on your
credit report as soon as you find out about it. Waiting
too long, can erode your rights to dispute the fraudulent
activity on your report. Make sure to write to all three
credit bureaus, when disputing fraudulent activities. Only
disputing fraudulent activity with one credit bureau, will
not erase the activity reported on the other two bureaus.

Make sure to ask for proper documentation from the
financial institutions that are reporting the fraudulent
activity. Many times individuals will dispute the
activity, but forget to request documentation from the
financial institutions reporting the activity. If you
don’t ask for the proper documentation, then you
won’t receive it. Usually, the fraudulent activity
is some sort of mistake that can be cleared up upon
inspection of the credit application and identifying
information, given to the financial institution by the
credit applicant. In many cases, the financial
institutions may have wrongly reported someone else’s
credit activity on your report, simply by erroneously
giving the wrong address, wrong name, or wrong Social
Security Number to the credit bureaus.

Keep in mind, that if the financial institution
doesn’t provide the proper documentation to prove the
debt is actually yours within thirty days, then by Federal
law, the credit bureaus have to remove the disputed charges
from your report. This is defined in the Fair Credit
Reporting Act. Don’t be under the impression
however, that after thirty days, the disputed charge will
be removed. Although the credit bureaus are required by
law, to remove the disputed charges from your report if the
financial institution doesn’t provide the appropriate
documentation automatically, usually you have to write them
again, after the thirty day period expires, to inform them
of the failure by the creditor to provide the proper
documentation. Persistence is the key.

It usually takes on average, about four to six months, to
clear up fraudulent activity on one’s credit report.
Unfortunately, it is a very slow process. Also, be aware
that the individuals who work at the credit bureaus, may
not necessarily be legally savvy. It is always a good
idea, to provide the credit bureaus with copies of the
relevant legal statutes, under which you are making the
dispute of charges.

Don’t get discouraged if at first the disputed
charges are not removed in a timely manner. Remember that
persistence is the key. Sooner or later, the financial
institution will usually give in, and remove the disputed
charges. They are not in business to fight with consumers
over disputed charges on their credit report. They are in
business to make money from interest charged on the
borrower’s debt.

Sometimes, the credit bureaus and the financial institution
will refuse to remove the disputed charges. If this
happens, then you have the right to place a comment along
with disputed charges. You can say something like
“Credit company refuses to remove fraudulent
charges”, or “Credit card was issued to someone
else fraudulently, and charges are not mine.” You
may also want to consult an attorney, because you may have
the right to sue the financial institution and the credit
bureaus, to force them to remove the fraudulent activity on
your report.

Always remember, that just because a fraudulent charge is
shown on your credit report today, doesn’t mean that
it has to be there tomorrow.

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Bryan Pringle, Ph.D., has written many articles on the
credit industry, and is the webmaster of websites offering
news and information regarding credit cards. For more
information about applying for credit cards, please visit:
http://www.apply-forcreditcards-online.com