Can You Erase Bad Credit Information?

Credit is one of the most important things in a person's financial life. It can determine whether you can purchase a home, rent an apartment, buy a new car, get a student loan and can even be used as a reason why you are rejected for employment. When bad credit information is on a report, most people want to do everything they can to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Personal Information

The easiest information to erase is bad and incorrect personal information. This includes your name, date of birth, aliases, addresses and employment. If your name is spelled incorrectly or is just plain wrong or your date of birth, address or current employer is incorrect, contact the credit bureau and inform it of the mistake either by mail, phone or on an online dispute form. You may be required to submit proof of the valid information: a copy of your Social Security card with your name and number, legal name change paperwork, a copy of your birth certificate, a letter or pay stub from your employer and a copy of a lease or mortgage.

Fraudulent Account

It is frustrating to be a victim of identity theft or to see that a bank has made a mistake and listed an account that is not yours on your credit reports. If these accounts haven't been paid on time or are over the credit limit, they could be bringing your credit score down. But there are ways of erasing this information.

If you find any of these types of accounts on your credit report, contact the creditor listed directly or the credit bureau and file a dispute. If you were a victim of identity theft, they may require you send or fax a copy of the police report or court papers, if you filed criminal or civil charges. Once the creditor or credit bureau verifies that this was not your account, it will be erased. Do not make false claims about your accounts because that is against the law.

Valid Account

Bad credit information on an account that used to be yours can remain on your reports for seven years from the date of last activity. You have a couple options for getting that information erased. First, if you had a charged off account that went to a collection agency and you are willing to pay the debt off, send the collection agency a pay for delete letter. This letter in effect states that in exchange for paying the debt off, the agency will delete the account from your credit report.

Second, if you have had a history of late payments with a particular creditor but your recent history with the creditor shows you are paying on time, send a goodwill letter. It will ask for the creditor to consider re-aging your account so that your credit report no longer shows those late payments. Re-aging willl erase that bad information, and no longer show late payments. Stress in your letter that your late payments were in the past and that you have been a good customer since then.

Finally, if you were an authorized user on somebody else's credit account, request that your name be removed from the account and that the account be removed from your reports. The creditor will erase this information because you are not legally liable for someone else's debt.