Correcting Your Credit Report:

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provides consumers with certain rights regarding credit bureau file. The FCRA was enacted to promote the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of a credit bureau.

Credit bureaus may generally report accurate negative information on your credit report for up to seven years and bankruptcy information for up to ten years. Under the law, credit bureaus are also called "credit reporting agencies.". You may obtain a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months from each of the three major credit bureaus at www.annualcreditreport.com.

A consumer has the right to dispute inaccurate or outdated information on his credit report under the FCRA. The credit bureau and the provider of the information (such as the credit card company or other lender) have the duty to correct inaccurate or outdated information. You may dispute the information on the credit report with both the credit bureau and the provider of the information. The credit bureau must generally investigate the disputed item within 30 days. When the investigation is complete, the credit bureau must give a person the written results.