Credit report check-up

No one needs to tell you how important your credit history is. We strongly recommend that you review the contents of your three major credit reports (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian) at least annually. 
Federal law provides that you have the right to get a complete copy of each of your credit reports. The three major credit reporting agencies have set up a single website to handle most consumer requests for reports: 
www.annualcreditreport.com
(Federal law only requires free reports once a year, but at the beginning of COVID, the credit reporting agencies started to allow free reports weekly. As of this writing, the website still states that it offers weekly reports.)
We strongly recommend that you pull each separate report and take some time to look through them all. Significant things that might hurt your credit or indicate problems would include:

• A report of an address where you have never lived
• The appearance of accounts you do not recognize or remember opening
• Collection items that you were unaware of
• Inquiries at places where you never applied for credit

You should dispute any inaccuracies with the agency that has reported the incorrect information. It is important for you to not only dispute inaccurate account information, but to also dispute any inaccurate personal information - including different versions of your name, addresses and telephone numbers that you never used, social security number variations, and date of birth.   
When disputing inaccurate information, we have found the best practices to be to: 

• Dispute in writing through Certified Mail (do NOT dispute by telephone or online)
• Enclose a photocopy of each page of your credit report that has an error and clearly note on that page what the error is - for example “not my account”, “balance was paid and have proof”, “belongs to parent or sibling”, “never lived in that state”, “not correct year of birth”, etc.
• Make sure to keep a copy of everything to send in as part of your dispute as well as your certified mailing receipts

The bureaus are required to respond to your dispute. If a credit reporting agency does not correct inaccurate information in response to your dispute, you may have a claim and we encourage you to reach out to speak with one of our attorneys at no cost to you. The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provides remedies including actual and statutory damages as well as attorneys fees, which may enable you to correct these errors without having to pay out of your own pocket.
You can call Jim Feagle at 404 373 1978 or Kris Skaar at 770 427 5600.