Managing your credit can be a challenge. There’s a lot of information that most lay people just don’t know. To educate consumers about credit management is one of the major reasons why we created and launched our first credit toolkit in 2004. So, put this need to know information in your arsenal of knowledge about credit bureaus.

What can cause your credit score to take a major dive? The answer – Errors in your credit report can steal points from your credit score and money out of your wallet. In the hope of getting errors cleared away as quickly as possible, many consumers go online to dispute credit report errors. Is this a smart credit move? Well, disputing errors in your credit report online can sometimes be tricky.

All three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion process most disputes using a system that’s almost entirely automated. e-OSCAR is a web-based automated system that enables data furnishers (your creditors and others) and credit bureaus to create and respond to consumer credit history disputes. However, some lenders do little more than check the disputed information against their own records, even if those records were the source of the error. This is precisely why we coach our clients to dispute errors with their creditor first. I know this is not a perfect system, but, believe it’s a better strategy. Credit bureaus are often skeptical of disputes submitted by consumers, however, they are more inclined to trust information coming from your creditors, clients of the credit bureaus.

Additionally, credit bureaus retain contractors who gather tax lien and bankruptcy information from courthouses and government offices. If these contractors transpose a digit or misread a document, their error gets entered on your credit report. These are just a few more reasons why it’s so important for consumers to keep their finger on the pulse of their credit reports. Take advantage of getting free credit reports from annualcreditreport.com. You can get all three copies of your reports free annually or request one report every four months.

If you have exhausted all sources to get an error deleted, consider retaining a consumer advocate attorney to fight on your behalf. Go here to find an attorney. Now, that’s a smart credit move.

Be sure to visit The Credit Alternative and Morlino and Lathea’s  sites.