Learn how to fix errors on your credit report.

If you apply for credit of any kind - and are denied  - you will receive a letter of decline from one of the Credit Bureaus. (it just depends on which one the lender used to run your credit report)

When you are denied credit, you are entitled to a free credit report from the agency that supplied your credit report to the potential lender. Call the Credit Bureau and request a copy of your credit report. If you disagree with items therein, follow up with the Dispute form.

Credit Bureaus will not remove anything from your credit report until they receive proof (in their hands) that the information is incorrect. If you fill out the form you should explain in detail why certain  information on your credit report is incorrect. When sending in a Dispute form to a Credit Bureau, include copies of any and all documents to support the inaccuracies.

Example:
You borrowed $1000 dollars from ABC bank. You are supposed to pay ABC bank $100 dollars a month for the next 12 months, due by the 5th of each month. When you receive your credit report it says that ABC bank reported that you paid $100 dollars past the due date two times. But you know you paid your bill on time. You should contact your bank and ask them to send you a summary of your loan account. When you receive the bank's summary, and you see there are no mistakes - you should attached this summary with the Credit Bureau's Dispute form and mail it in to one of the three main bureaus.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a Credit Bureau must investigate your claim within 30 days of receiving it. Keep records of when you mailed your correction form. You should mail it via Certified Mail. This way you will have a signed receipt for delivery, and you'll be able to use this documentation, if in the future, they state they never received it.