“If you see a late payment report that you know is incorrect, you need to contact your creditor and provide evidence that you made the payment on time,” Cunningham says. “It can take months to correct an error, so that’s why it’s so important to look at your report early in the process of applying for a loan. If the late payment is accurate, then you’ll need to explain what happened and why.”
CHECK YOUR CREDIT BALANCES AND LIMITS
Cunningham says most creditors accurately report credit limits, but if yours isn’t right, you can contact the creditor to ask for a correction.
“Your balance is a little trickier because it’s a snapshot of a specific day,” Cunningham says. “Even if you pay your credit card in full each month, it could show a balance if the creditor reports on the day before your payment goes through.”
INVESTIGATE YOUR INQUIRIES
Inquiries refer to a request for your credit report by a company where you applied for credit, insurance or a loan; in addition, inquiries can be made for account monitoring by existing creditors, a job application or by you, but those are not visible to lenders when they check your credit. A handful of credit checks by different companies over the course of a year won’t hurt your loan application, but if you’ve applied for a lot of credit, it can impact your credit profile.
“If you’re on the bubble of qualifying for a loan and the lender sees a lot of inquiries for credit cards and store cards, it could hurt you because it looks like you’re trying to stretch your cash flow,” Tiffany says.
If you see inquiries on your credit report that you didn’t make, this is a sign that someone might be trying to steal your identity and is applying for credit in your name, Cunningham says.
©2014 Bankrate.com
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