If you have any amount of negative credit on your credit report it will cause the interest on all loans you apply for to be much higher. It could even become a barrier to your credit approval. That will cost you a fortune in unnecessary higher interest resulting in higher payments on anything you buy.

In 1971, the United States Congress enacted the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. In summary it states that if a consumer wants to challenge credit information on his or her credit report, credit bureaus must investigate the dispute.

It also states that credit bureaus are required to complete the investigation within a 30 day period. The credit bureau must promptly delete any of the disputed information if it is found inaccurate or cannot be verified.

There are some cases when a consumer dispute can be ignored by credit bureaus however. Credit bureaus are entitled to ignore disputes that are based on negative ratings due to things like health problems, divorce or job loss, the. The information you dispute must be either old or incorrect.

A valid dispute needs to contain enough information for the credit bureaus to contact the creditor and confirm that the new information you gave them is accurate and can be verified. If the credit bureau does not receive verification from the creditor within 30 days, the Fair Credit Reporting Act says the credit bureau must promptly delete that credit listing.

Even though the process sounds simple, the credit bureaus make it more difficult than you can imagine. Credit bureaus don't like credit repair companies or anyone offering instruction on how to repair your own credit report, because it means more work for them.

Credit bureaus blast credit repair companies in the media and warn people against using credit repair services. The bureaus often openly deny that any information can even be removed from your credit report.

How you decide to address or dispute credit information is entirely up to you. But regardless of what you may hear in the news, thousands of people have restored their credit. You can choose to repair your own credit report or hire a professional service to do it for you.

The truth is you do not have to endure bad credit for seven to ten years. This summary of the Fair Credit Reporting Act shows you it is possible for you to repair your own credit report and the sooner you start the better.