How to Repair & Fix a Suspicious Address on Your Credit

The Fair Credit Reporting Act was passed in order to more efficiently and effectively protect consumers and their financial lives. The FCRA gives a free credit report to each consumer in the U.S. and provides timely handling of credit report inquiries. It also allows customers to change erroneous information on their reports. If you have a suspicious address on your credit report, you need to verify it and send inquiries to all three credit bureaus.

Instructions

1

Pull a copy of your credit report before sending off any emails or letters to the three credit bureaus, which are TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. You first need to confirm that there is indeed an inaccurate address on your report. To get a free copy of your credit report, visit AnnualCreditReport.com.

2

Print out the credit report and scan through the demographic information. This is where your name, address, employer, Social Security number, date of birth and telephone number are listed. Find the inaccurate street address and circle it. Make photocopies of this report, including the circled area.

3

Copy down the addresses of the three credit bureaus, available under Resources. You will need to contact each bureau to correct the address on the credit report.

4

Write a short letter explaining the problem. Keep the letter business-like, specific and nonemotional. You may have suffered a financial hardship due to a credit report error, but this is not the place to take out your frustration. You simply need the record corrected. Make sure to include your name, Social Security number and date of birth. Include copies of at least two documents confirming your correct address.

5

Send the letters to all three bureaus. The credit bureaus have 30 days to acknowledge your inquiry, and another 90 days to address and correct the problem.