My mother believed the year began in September. New pencils, new shoes, the smell of a school corridor after the floors were waxed. January was for other people. September was when you got organized.
She wasn't wrong. If you're going to buy anything with a loan attached before spring — a house in the winter market, a car before the model year turns — the fall is when the file has to be right. So here is the September review, in the order that catches the most, sized for one long coffee.
Minutes one to ten: the three
Pull Experian, Equifax and TransUnion at AnnualCreditReport.com. Print them. Personal information first — names, addresses, employers — then the accounts. Circle anything that isn't yours and anything the three don't agree on. January's article, if you want the long version.
Minutes ten to twenty: the five
Request LexisNexis, Innovis, ChexSystems, Early Warning and NCTUE. They arrive by mail over the next couple of weeks, so this step is really just sending five requests. The CFPB entries for each have the addresses. Most will come back with nothing on them, and that's what you want to know before a lender's vendor knows it.
Minutes twenty to thirty: the dates
For every negative item, find the date of first delinquency and count seven years. Anything past that shouldn't be there. Anything with a date that looks newer than you remember may have been re-aged, and that's a dispute.
Minutes thirty to forty: the freeze and the calendar
Check the freezes. On, at all the companies that offer one, with the PINs somewhere you'll find them. Then count backward from whatever you're planning (July's article) and put the dispute start date on the calendar. If it's already here, start.
What you're not doing today
Fixing anything. Today is reading and requesting; the fixing has its own timeline and its own articles, all of them above. The folder starts today, with three printed reports and a list. My mother would have used a fresh pencil.
The year begins in September. Know your file before your lender does.
Sources
- AnnualCreditReport.com
- CFPB — List of consumer reporting companies
- CFPB — Common credit report errors to look for
- Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681c-1 — security freezes
Every statutory citation in this article was checked against the source listed before publication. Nothing here is legal advice; if your situation has legal consequences, talk to a licensed attorney in your state.