It is a big mistake to count on your creditors to report everything accurately for you. Creditors tend to give their revenue generating activities a higher priority than their reporting duties, and can easily overlook reporting your credit history in an accurate manner. This is especially true after a bankruptcy is filed. It is imperative that you check your credit report following a bankruptcy to make sure that all your accounts are listed as discharged and indicate a zero balance. You don’t want debts that were eliminated in your bankruptcy continuing to hurt your credit score.

To repair your credit, you must first obtain a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus. It is important to get your reports from each individual bureau because the bureaus do not share information or communicate with each other, and each bureau’s report can often contain information different from the reports of the other bureaus. Correcting errors on one of your credit reports does not automatically correct errors with the other agencies.

Once you have obtained your credit reports, review each account closely to determine if the information listed on the report is accurate and complete. You will need to dispute any errors that you find on your credit reports. Dispute forms and instructions can be found at:

• Equifax
• Trans-Union
• Experian

Once you dispute an inaccuracy on your credit report, the credit bureau contacts the source of the dispute and requires it to verify the disputed information within 30 days. If the creditor is unable to verify the disputed information or does not respond within 30 days, the bureau removes negative information from your credit report. After the credit bureau notifies you with the results of the dispute, be sure to obtain another copy of your credit report to verify that the disputed information was actually corrected. The dispute process can take several months, so it is important to make sure your credit report is accurate well before you plan to apply for new credit.

If the above process is overwhelming to you, there are firms that specialize in credit repair that can dispute credit inaccuracies for you. Before committing to any credit repair service, find out how the service determines its fees and verify that the firm is reputable.