If you find a suspected error in your report, you have the right to dispute it with the credit bureaus. Once a dispute is received, the bureaus are required by law to contact the original creditor. The creditor will either:

• Admit a mistake - the disputed info is taken off your report
• Not respond - the disputed info is taken off your report
• Confirm the info - the disputed info stays on your report

2) Print off and look at your reports for any negative information. You're looking for accounts that you don't recognize, accounts that should be "paid in full" but still show a balance, the same debt showing up under two collection companies, debt older than 7 years, and any accounts that show up as late. Circle the name of the creditor, the type of account, and the account number. This is info that we'll include in our letter to the credit bureaus.

3) Accounts you don't recognize: Keep in mind that credit cards, especially store cards, can report under a parent company name. Try typing the name of the creditor into Google to see if it brings up something you recognize. If you truly don't recognize the account, you may be the victim of identity theft and should contact the creditor to have the account closed. You can also include this in your dispute.

4) Accounts that should be paid in full but still show a balance: This error is most likely to come up if you've reached an agreement with a collections company to pay less than what's owed. Hopefully, you have asked for a copy of the settlement agreement in writing before sending any payment. However, copies of emails or letters and a copy of the check or statement where you paid the settlement should be sufficient proof.

5) The same debt showing up under two collection companies: This error usually occurs when credit cards charge-off debts as noncollectable. Then the debt goes to a collections agency. There should be two entries in your report. One where the credit card is showing the debt as owed but charged off, and another where the collections agency is reporting the debt. If the debt shows up under two collections agencies, then there's an error. Frequently, one collections company will pass the debt off to the next, but they won't go back and remove their entry on your report. This can happen multiple times and could be a good source of improvement in your score if you can get duplicate entries removed.

6) Debts older than 7 years: Collections can be reported for 7 years from the original date of delinquency. In other words, it can only stay on your report for 7 years from your first missed payment on the credit card. There was a case where the FTC sued a large debt collection agency for reporting the first missed payment on credit cards as more recent than it actually was, so it's important to look for yourself to see when the first missed payment occurred. Judgments against you can remain on your report for 7 years or until legally allowed by the state, whichever is longer, so they can remain for much longer than 7 years in some cases.