In order for you to get any errors and inaccuracies in your credit report corrected, you would not only have to work with the consumer reporting agencies (such as Equifax, Experian & Trans Union), you would also need to get such corrections made at the source --i.e. the entities (banks, businesses, merchants, credit card companies, etc.) that such erroneous information may have originated from.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that not only the the consumer reporting company, but also the the information originator/provider correct any fraudulent information in your credit report. You must, therefore, contact both the consumer reporting company as well as the information provider and ask them to correct any such errors. In order for you to get any such errors corrected, it is imperative that you follow the procedures that FCRA specifies.

Getting a Consumer Reporting Company to Correct Errors in Your Credit Report:

You will have to file a dispute letter with your credit reporting agencies. They may ask you to provide them with proof of your identity. They may ask, for example, that you provide them with your SSN, your full name, your address, and any other personal information that they may deem necessary.

You may have to follow the following steps in order to get a consumer reporting company to block any fraudulent information from appearing on your credit report:

• Provide them with a copy of an identity theft report,
  
• Send them a dispute letter (by certified mail, return receipt required) clearly documenting what information is fraudulent, and
  
• You should further state the fact that the transaction(s) in questions were not authorized by you or made by you.

You may want to keep copies of your dispute letter, as well as copies of any supporting documents on file.

FCRA requires that the consumer reporting company blocks the fraudulent information within four business days after accepting your identity theft report. FCRA further mandates that the credit reporting company notifies the information provider that it has blocked the information in question. A consumer reporting company has right to refuse to block the information or to remove the block under certain circumstances. Consumer reporting companies are required to notify you if they remove any such block, or if they decide not to place the block.

Getting Information Providers To Correct Errors in Your Credit Report:

Information providers are required by the law to stop reporting fraudulent information to the consumer reporting companies once you have provided them with a copy of your identity theft report as well as a letter stating that the information in question had indeed stemmed from an identity theft. It is important to note that often the address to which you must mail the above documents may be different than the one you may have on file. It is helpful, therefore, to confirm with the information provider the address where they may want you to mail all such communications to.

If the information provider concludes that the information in question did not result from an identity theft, they may resume providing such information to the consumer reporting agencies once again.

FCRA forbids an information provider from hiring someone to collect the debt that relates to any such fraudulent activities on account, or from selling that debt to any other bill-collectors.