Lenders, at their discretion, report the status of all their loans to the credit bureaus each month. The information that they report is not necessarily up-to-date or accurate.
Credit reporting agencies keep files of information on all consumers who have made credit transactions at some point in their lives. Credit granting institutions may purchase these files
There are agencies/operators that collect public records information which is placed in databanks. This information is then sold to other agencies such as credit bureaus. Some of the reasons it is handled in this manner is to assure the information is valid and to keep the necessary "paper work" at a minimum.
New York state follows federal guidelines for the reporting of negative credit information. Typically, negative credit information such as late payments, charge-offs, and collections can remain on your credit report for seven years. It is important to check your credit report regularly to ensure the accuracy of the information.
In the US, the Federal government and along with many statewide agencies, provide people with information on issues that concern products that people buy. The US agency also produces information and warnings about consumer services such as credit cards. It's a good idea to keep up to date on these issues to avoid problems these agencies identify as hazards, or consumer frauds that certain credit card companies have committed.
Credit reporting agencies report your credit activities, such as paying bills on time, taking out a loan, etc. They keep track of this and make it available to anyone who requests it.
What you need to do is obtain a copy of your credit report. These are agencies that keep track of people's debts and credit ratings etc., and whenever you apply for a loan or credit card or mortgage etc., the bank obtains these reports from these agencies. There are 3 major credit reporting agencies in the USA, and you can get a copy of your credit report from them for free, or for a minimal fee. Study it to see if there are any errors, or debts which have been paid off etc. Then you have to write to the credit reporting agency and ask them to make the specific corrections, or remove erroneous information. Then it is up to them to prove that the information is wrong, or remove it.
Make sure that you leave a couple of cards open with small balances so that they will keep reporting to the credit agencies. IF you pay everything off, you will not have anything reporting to the credit agencies.
Consumers (although some do not realize it) authorize the creditor and agencies and legal representatives acting on the creditor's behalf to access their credit report when they sign the original account agreement. It is perfectly legal and there is nothing the debtor can do to prevent the action.
why does your employer need to have up to date personal information
Legally they are not allowed alter the dates but there is very little regulation on this. It is very important that you keep the creditors in line and make sure that they are reporting the information properly.
There are two things you should do. First, dispute the information with the credit reporting agency (you may have to dispute it with all three -- Experiean, TransUnion and Equifax -- if it appears on all three reports). This compells them legally to conduct an investigation and prove the information they show is correct. However, it's been said that those investigations are mostly for show, so you need to contact the institution through which you had the credit card and ask for a letter stating the account is paid off and closed. You can then submit a copy of that letter to the credit agencies. After that, they must legally amend the information, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Be sure to keep the orignal letter from the credit card company, as the bad information may show up again and you may have to resubmit the proof of payment to the credit agencies.
Once it is reported to the credit reporting agencies, it is very tough to have it removed. However, you can get them to mark it "satisfied" by providing documentation of such along with a letter of explanation. Keep copies of all correspondence with the agencies.