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Make sure you also read our article, "The 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make in Credit Repair".
What the information provided in this page does is help you fix ERRORS on your credit report and clean up
those "questionable" items. While no one can legally remove accurate negative information from a credit
report, the law does allow you to request an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as
inaccurate or incomplete. On the other hand, *nudge* *nudge*, *wink* *wink*, it is perfectly legal to
challenge ANYTHING on your credit report. There is no charge for requesting an investigation. The whole
key to the credit repair procedure is that if the credit bureaus cannot verify information on your credit report
they must remove it. For instance, if a credit bureau cannot contact a collection agency which is reporting a
collection on your report, they cannot verify the information, and the credit bureau must delete the entry.
Let's meet Edouardo.
Confidentiality GUARANTEED!
by Kristy Welsh
Credit Repair is not difficult, but you can shoot yourself in the foot if you don’t pay attention to a few
little things. Here are common mistakes people make which can be easily avoided:
1. Failing to disputing with the credit bureaus FIRST. In credit repair, always dispute
your negatives with the credit bureaus before doing anything else. 10-20% of all items
disputed in an initial round of disputes fall off. Why not pick off the low hanging fruit in the
beginning so you can concentrate on the tough stuff? In addition, you cannot take legal action
as an individual against companies who are acting illegally by reporting you if you don’t
dispute first.
2. Failing to document your efforts. You should ideally be keeping notes and dates of all
your efforts. Make a note of anyone you speak to, when you send letter, and when you receive
letters. You should all make sure you send your disputes certified mail, return receipt
requested. How to organize is up to you. Putting everything in a notebook is ideal, but a plain
‘ole file folder will do if you just store bits of paper. You don’t have to get too fancy.
Documentation is especially important when you are disputing items with the credit bureaus.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), credit bureaus have 30 days to get back to you
with the results of an investigation on your dispute. If you do not hear from them, within 30
days, they must remove the item.
3. Disputing items online. Never do this! You will not have any written records of your
dispute (the return receipt), plus, you are making it easy for them by disputing online. Your
dispute will become a two letter code and will be sent (using eOscar) to an offshore computer
for analysis. You will also not be able to dispute specific information within the listing, for
instance, wrong high balance, wrong date account was opened, etc. You will not be able to
send documentation. In addition, if your name, SSN or address is incorrect, you have to send
your request in writing any way.
4. Being unrealistic. If your credit report is in bad shape, there isn’t a quick fix. The process
takes time, usually from 6 months to a year. In addition, some items are extremely difficult, if
not impossible, to remove: bankruptcies, tax liens, judgments and child support. If you have
any of those listings, you may be in it for the long haul.
5. Giving up. The process seems overwhelming at first, especially if you are new to credit
repair. Take one step at a time. You don’t have to do everything at once. I usually tell people to
do things a few days or a week apart, and not to spend more than an hour at a stretch doing
anything. After the first dispute letters are mailed, you really shouldn’t have to spend any more
than 1 hour a month working on your credit. Isn’t it worth it?
Be persistent! Become more insistent, but not more threatening, with each dispute. Make sure your
letters are clear and to the point. Remember, an employee at one of the credit bureaus has about 4
minutes to enter the dispute into the computer for analysis by e-Oscar. Remember if you call the
company, this resets the clock on how long they have to get back to you. If you are on day 29 of
the 30 days that they have to get back to you and you call, the clock resets and they have 30 more
days because you "provided them with more information". Just like any other consumer, you can
become frustrated and threatening as time passes. You may threaten to hire an attorney, you may
threaten to complain to the FTC and your state's attorney general, etc. But don’t overdo it.
Be creative - Create and utilize other techniques that help further the idea that the dispute letter is
from a truly wronged and disadvantaged consumer. The checker is only interested in investigating
disputes that truly are erroneous and damaging.
Do not bombard the credit bureaus with disputes (about the same listings, that is). Sending one
dispute right after another is wasteful and counterproductive, even if you do use a different reason
in your dispute. Again, you must remember to change the REASON for the dispute each time you
submit. Otherwise, the dispute can be deemed frivolous and the credit bureau is under no legal
obligation to take action. Also remember, that credit repair is a time-consuming operation requiring
great patience. The rule of thumb is to wait 60 days between disputes of the same listing WITH A
DIFFERENT REASON FOR DISPUTING.
Edouardo receives his responses from the credit bureaus within the time allowed by law and eagerly rips
open the envelopes. He was pleased to see that half of the collections were removed from his credit report
and the late payment on his credit card has been corrected. On 3 of the collection accounts on his Equifax
report, the results of the investigations were listed as "verified". Trans Union deleted all of the collection
account listings, but Experian only deleted one of them. The rest of the listing investigations were listed as
"verified".
Re: Unauthorized Credit Inquiry
I have sent this letter certified mail because I need your prompt
response to this issue. Please be so kind as to forward me
documentation that you have had the unauthorized inquiry removed.
Jane Caveat-Debtor
Your Name
123 Your Street Address
Your City, ST 01234
Credit Bureau
Credit Bureau Address
Some City, Any State 56789
Date:
This letter is formal notice that you have failed to respond to my dispute letter of date. I sent this letter
registered mail and have enclosed a copy of the return receipt which you signed on some date.
As you are well aware, federal law requires you to respond within 30 days. It has now been over that period
since your receipt of my letter. As you are no doubt aware, failure to comply with federal regulations by
credit reporting agencies are in serious violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and may be investigated by
the FTC. Obviously, I am maintaining detailed records of all my correspondence with you.
I am aware that you may have misplaced my letters or have failed to respond to my letter because of an
oversight due to the high volume of the requests you receive daily. If this is the case, I'm sure you'll want to
handle this matter as soon as possible. For this purpose, I have included a copy of my original request, the
dated receipt of your reception of the original letter and a copy of the proof verifying the incorrectness of the
credit item you have mistakenly placed on my records.
The following information therefore needs to be verified and deleted from the report as soon as possible:
Please delete this erroneous item from my credit report as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
your signature
Your Name
SSN# 123-45-6789
Date
Company name
Address
I am writing to you today regarding my credit card account #4236-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX which I had while I
was a medical student at ------------------------------------. The purpose of my correspondence is to see if
you would be willing to make a "goodwill" adjustment on the reporting of this account to the three credit
agencies.
During the time period this account was established I had was very happy with the service, I was however
not the ideal customer and made mistakes with my handling of the account. I should have kept better
records regarding the account and I take full responsibility. I became aware of the unpaid balance when I
got a copy of my credit report in June of 2006.
I know that payment was my responsibility and I am not attempting to justify this breach of my user
agreement, I was however hoping you might review the circumstances under which this non-payment
occurred and consider removing the negative trade line associated with this account from my three credit
reports.
As soon as I became aware of the balance I contacted ----------------- and paid the balance in full. I provide
this not to justify why the account was unpaid, but rather to show that the issue with ----------- is not a
good indicator of my actual credit worthiness. I hope that ---------------- is willing to work with me on
erasing this mark from my credit reports.
I would like to STRESS that the information currently being reported IS accurate, (I am not disputing
anything with ---------------). I am simply asking -------------for a courtesy gesture of goodwill in having the
credit bureaus remove this account from my report. I do recognize that this request is unique and that it
may not be ------------- normal policy. Please consider that the Fair Credit Reporting Act does not demand
that all accounts be reported, only that any account that is reported be reported accurately. Therefore, a
company does have legal discretion and permission to remove any account it chooses from the credit report.
I'm hoping that ------------- will do that in my case for this account.
Best Regards
"My credit was such an embarrassing mess, that I pretty much just gave up on the idea of ever having good credit. I searched high and low
for a service like yours and you guys just seemed to make it easy. I still can't even believe where I am now after your service. I never thought
I'd have a chance like this again, and I couldn't be more thankful."
Although the credit bureaus would like to have you think otherwise, there is absolutely nothing illegal about disputing
items on your credit report. In fact, it is your explicit right by law to do so. (See Fair Credit Reporting Act) Credit report
repair is as legal as pleading "not guilty" in a court of law.
Disputing the credit report is easy. Getting results from the credit bureaus is amazingly difficult, complex, and infuriating.
It is not a coincidence that the Federal Trade Commission receives more complaints against credit bureaus than any other
type of business. Remember, the credit bureaus are primarily interested in protecting their profits. Investigating your
challenge consumes these profits. Short of sparking a mass number of lawsuits, the credit bureaus seem to do everything
in their power to discourage consumers from making progress in their restoration efforts.
Restoring your own credit is like repairing your own transmission or representing yourself in court; it is possible, but you
must decide if you are willing to take the time and assume the risks of doing it yourself.
Check your credit rating? You don't. Lenders won't give it to you. This is an internal information that is kept
confidential. Another reason why you cannot check your credit rating is simply because every lender would
have a different rating for you.
One of the misconceptions is that the personal credit rating report can be obtained from a credit rating
agency... and that's because people think of it as a credit score... that it isn't... (But, of course, you can
check your credit score with credit bureaus.)
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