A great credit score is the golden ticket to purchasing a new home in Atlanta. If your credit history is solid, you’ll have absolutely no problem getting approved for a mortgage loan and beginning your new life as a homeowner. However, if you have bad credit history, you are less likely to be able to fulfill your dreams of homeownership. With credit history being the only gateway to getting approved for a mortgage loan, it is imperative you regularly check your credit report. If upon checking your credit report, you notice an error, act quickly to get it corrected. The longer this error sits on your report, the more damage it can do to your score. Thus, I am listing 5 simple steps, which I found on The Mortgage Wire, you can do to help improve your credit by disputing an error on your report.

1. Send your dispute letter only to the bureau(s) that are reporting the derogatory information. Not all creditors report to every bureau, and by sending a dispute letter to a bureau that does not have any derogatory information reported, you run the risk of them adding it to your report.
2. Always send the letter by certified mail with a return receipt, so that you can prove delivery of the letter.
3. Include copies of any supporting documents
4. Record the letters you sent, the dates you sent them and the names of the people you have talked to about getting the error corrected.
5. Remember that each bureau has several addresses, so if one of your letters comes back to you, send it to an alternative address.

Errors happen on credit reports all of the time, so make sure to you are regularly checking your report to confirm the information on it. And, if by some unfortunate chance, you notice a discrepancy, follow these five steps to minimize the damage.