What are some ways you can clean up your credit report?

People can clean up their credit reports by disputing errors with credit reporting agencies and with the banks or lenders who extended the credit, notes Forbes. If they are unable to clean up their reports using these methods, they can file complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or hire attorneys who specialize in the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Consumers who want to clean up their credit reports should get copies of their reports from all three reporting agencies, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, and continue to check them regularly for errors, states Forbes. Accounts that don't belong to the consumer, misreported late payments and unauthorized loan inquiries are some of the mistakes people should look for, and they have to dispute the same error that appears on multiple reports with each credit reporting agency. While filing disputes online is the quickest method, people should consider sending disputes through U.S. mail, as it allows them flexibility not offered by online forms.

Equifax and TransUnion require that people challenging things on their credit reports use their claims forms, and the Federal Trade Commission provides a sample letter consumers can use to explain their disputes, according to Forbes. People should include all supporting documentation with their claims, and if they do not get positive responses from the credit reporting agencies, they should go directly to the companies who extended the disputed credit. When these companies agree with consumer disputes, they must send corrections to reporting agencies.