What Credit Report Items Legitimately Remain on My Credit Report and What Items Can Be Disputed?

It’s a good idea to be proactive about your credit by making sure that what’s being reported on your credit report is accurate. Consumers are entitled to a free credit each year from AnnualCreditReport.com. Once you see your credit report, you’ll probably ask, “What credit report items legitimately remain on my credit report and what items can be disputed?”

Information That’s on Your Credit Report

Your credit reports reflect your history of borrowing money and paying it back. Your personal information is included along with detailed information about your outstanding debt, such as the total loan amount of each account, date the account was opened, the amount of credit still available on credit cards or lines of credit and your payment history.

If you’ve paid any of your debts more than 30 days late, this shows on your credit report. Information about problems you’ve had in the past is shown such as collections accounts, bankruptcy, foreclosure, tax liens or civil judgments against you. Credit inquiries are also shown on your credit report.

Reviewing Your Credit Reports for Errors

Carefully review the information being reported and see if there are any errors. Make sure your name is spelled correctly and that your address and social security number are correct. Check the accounts that are being reported and make sure that none are showing past due that have been paid on time or showing as open when you’ve paid them off. If more than 7 to 10 years have passed since a negative item such as a bankruptcy or an item that ended up in collections, they should no longer be showing up on your reports. Also make sure that there are no duplicate items or accounts that don’t belong to you.

Things You Can’t Dispute

If you find things that are inaccurate, you can and should dispute them. You can’t dispute negative items that are accurate just to try to get them removed from your credit report. For example, if you declared bankruptcy or had a civil judgement against you, the fact that it shows on your credit report is legitimate. If you forgot to make a payment or had a good reason you missed a payment, you still can’t have the late payment removed from your credit report. You can only dispute credit inquiries if they’re the result of errors or identity theft.

Disputing Errors

If you do find inaccurate information on your credit report, file a dispute with the credit bureau that’s reporting it. You may also want to contact the creditor who is reporting inaccurate information to request that their records be corrected. Need help with this process? When you work with Dovly, we can take care of filing disputes with the credit bureau for you. Dovly is an AI credit engine that runs on autopilot to help you track, manage and fix your credit. We can help you be proactive about making sure your credit report is showing only accurate information. Try it risk-free with our free membership tier.