Article by Ask Bill

You were in the process of applying for a loan or refinancing and you obtained your Bank of America credit report but saw a negative comment on it. You are now wondering what you should do about your Bank of America credit report and the negative comment. You checked with the bank to find out why you got a derogatory comment on your report but it could not give you a good explanation. As far as you can remember, you do not think you did anything to warrant a negative comment on the report. So what next? Below are the steps to take if you think that the negative comment should be removed so that it does not mar your credit score. You must always bear in mind that the credit report may not be an accurate measure of your finances and credit history as it only takes into account your financial situation in the most recent 60 to 90 days. If it makes you feel better, you will be glad to know that at least a quarter of the reports requested from credit reporting agencies end up in dispute and a quarter of the disputes are accurate. Also according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), consumer credit reporting companies are required to report accurate information and you may dispute any inaccuracy you noticed in your report. Now, the steps you could take to dispute your report are: 1. You need to obtain your free credit report either rom Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. You can get the free report once a year. You can obtain your report through the Annual Credit Report request service. You are also allowed to request for a report from each of the company. To obtain the report, you will need to provide your full name, date of birth, current address and Social Security number. However, the information required by each company varies. 2. Once you get the report, check it thoroughly for errors such as your name, social security number and your current and previous addresses. You need to ensure these information are accurate as there could be mistakes made in your report. 3. Take steps to correct the mistakes in your report by writing to the consumer credit reporting company and informing it about the error or inaccuracy. You may need to list out the information in dispute and then make a request that it is removed or corrected. The consumer reporting company will then investigate your disputes within a 30-day period. Once the consumer reporting company has completed its investigation, it may send you a letter to inform you of the results. It may also send notices to anyone who may have received your report in the past six months. So, in essence, if you had applied for a Bank of America refinance loan three months ago and it was rejected due to the mistakes in your credit history report, this may help you in your future application. 4. Finally, you may submit your dispute in writing to the creditor or other information provider. To do that, you may need copies of the documents to support your claim of inaccuracy. Bank of America has an address where you can submit your dispute. When it reports the item to a consumer reporting company, it may need to include a notice of your dispute and if it is true that the information in the report is inaccurate, then the item will be removed. Bank of America is one of the nation’s top lenders and when you try to apply for a loan, your financial report card or credit history is an important factor that the lender looks at. That’s because the lender wants to know more about your financial background and it needs to know whether you are able to repay the loan you plan to take from it. So, when you apply for a Bank of America refinancing, the information that credit reporting agencies will collect to make up your financial report card includes all your personal information, your credit accounts and reports from your creditors, a list of those who had asked for your report and public record such as foreclosures, lawsuits, liens, judgments and bankruptcies. Having a healthy, good, financial background is essential to obtain approval for loans. So if you do see any mistakes in your credit report, make a point to dispute it and have it removed.

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