Make sure your credit report contains only items about you. Look for information that is inaccurate or incomplete, such as accounts that do not belong to you, addresses of places where you did not live, names of employers you did not work for, or information that should no longer be on your credit report, such a bankruptcy that is more than ten years old.

Look for multiple “copies” of an account. Credit reports should only show one instance of an account. Multiple “copies” of the same derogatory account on your credit report may hurt your credit score because they look like multiple delinquencies.

If you find errors, you should contact the credit reporting agency from whom you obtained the report, and the creditor or whomever provided the information (called the “furnisher” of the information). The copy of your credit report will include information about how to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information. For more information, please visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261.