Most of us know the importance of a credit score. Good credit can allow us to buy houses, cars, and start businesses. Bad credit can keep us from all this and more. Because a credit score is so important, it’s important to make sure your credit report is accurate and void of errors. To do this, start with the following:

Get Your Reports: By law, you are allowed to receive a free annual credit report from each of the three credit bureaus. This is the first step in checking for accuracy. Either call the Annual Credit Report Request Service at 877-322-8228 or visit the website, www.annualcreditreport.com.

Check the Basic: After you have your hands on your report, check them for accuracy. Look at the specifics and make sure that they list the correct name, the correct social security number, the correct birth date and the correct address. If they list the wrong information, or information that has never existed (such as an address where you have never resided), contact the bureau immediately.

Look Into the Accounts: The next step in checking for accuracy is to go through your credit information with a fine toothed comb. Look very closely for any accounts that aren’t yours, delinquencies that are either not yours or unjustified, any negative mark that is more than seven years old (with the exception of bankruptcy), any debt that is your spouse’s and not yours, and any other errors, such as an account that is listed as late when it has really been paid in full.

Any errors on your credit report can indicate that you have become a victim to identity theft or that you are simply the victim of a mix-up or typo. Regardless, errors on your credit report should be dealt with immediately.

Look Into Inquiries: Another section of your credit report lists the creditors who have recently looked into you credit history. In this section, look to make sure there are no credit inquiries that you didn’t authorize and none that are over two years old. Having a plethora of inquiries on your credit report can hurt your score by making you appear desperate for credit. Thus, it’s important that the inquiries are accurate.

Look at Your Collection and Pubic Records: The last section of your credit report lists things like foreclosures, bankruptcies, garnishments, and collection actions. In this section make sure everything is listed is actually yours, that bankruptcy over ten years old are not included, that bankruptcies are listed by chapter, that lawsuits and judgments over seven years old aren’t included, that anything that has been paid is not listed as unpaid, and that no duplicate actions are listed.

Whenever you find errors, you should dispute them immediately. If you ordered the report by phone, you will likely be given a mail in dispute form; if you ordered online, the dispute may be made online as well. By law, credit bureaus must investigate any errors you report and get back to you within 30 days. If the error can’t be proved within 30 days, it must be deleted from your report.

But, even upon deletion, the error may not stay off forever. Some creditors continue to report erroneous information. This why it’s important to check your credit report every 6 months.