How to Dispute a Credit Report Error

How to Dispute a Credit Report Error

Now that we understand how to read a credit report we are going to begin to correct all of the errors in our credit report, section by section. Then, we are going to dispute all negative remarks and collections on our credit bureau. Who and how we dispute these remarks will be the gist of this chapter.

Important - Although you can make disputes online, we HIGHLY recommend that you make these by mail, using certified return receipt mail. Having a paper trail for everything you do is key to your long term success. Many times collection agencies will bundle their old uncollected debts into one huge list and sell that list to other collectors. Then, the new collection companies that buy this data will begin to try to collect the debt from you all over. By law, these guys cannot report any debt that is over the 7 yr statute of limitations, however, they can bug you until you send them proof that you have settled the debt or a Letter of Validation.

Note: We recommend that you do not make contact with any of the collection agencies in an attempt to repair your credit until you have completed the following steps with the credit repositories. We will deal with collection agencies in detail next chapter. Right now, we are going to work the system to our advantage by asserting our rights through the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Moving Forward, Things you Should Know:

• The credit repositories are required to PROVE, within reason, that you actually owe the debt that is being reporting about you.
• Credit repositories are required, by law, to investigate the source and validity of any negative remarks that are being reported about you.
• By law, credit bureaus are required to remove any remarks that you dispute, that are not responded to by the reporting agency within a reasonable amount of time (30 – 45 days).

As discussed earlier, when collection agencies FIRST contact you, you have the right to ask the collection agency to validate the debt, who they are, who they are collecting for, how they are being paid to collect and if they are legitimately allowed to collect debts in your state.

However, in this section, before we contact the collection agencies, we are going to dispute all items through the credit repositories. The reason for this is simple. Collection agencies handle tens of thousands of cases. It is very possible that if you dispute old debts through the credit repositories the collection agency may fail to validate that debt with them and the credit bureau will have to remove the negative remark. When this happens, you have circumvented having to deal with the collection agency about that particular debt.

If you were to contact the collection agency first, it is very likely that they will move your case from an inactive case to an active case and begin collection efforts again. Keep this in mind, the credit bureau cannot report negative remarks about you for more than 7 years from the LAST ACTIVITY date ( last time you made a payment). Some collection agencies will move the last activity date if you make payments to them making the negative remark stay on your credit bureau longer. For this reason never make payments to a collection agency.

Now, use your notebook and label three sections, one for each credit repository:

• Trans Union
• Equifax
• Experian

Using the credit bureau you purchased earlier, make a list of ALL the negative remarks, collections and wrong accounts from each creditor in your notebook. Make sure that you place these notes under the correct credit repository heading. Meaning, if your have a negative remark from 5 years ago from ABC collection agency, it is highly possible that only one or two credit repositories are reporting the debt, as opposed to all three. We don’t want to send a dispute letter to the credit repository that isn’t even listing the item in question.

Notate in your notebook who is reporting the negative remark, the amount od the debt, and the date of last activity (this will usually be the last payment that you made). Next, notate if the reporting agency is the original creditor or a collection agency. Many times you will find that ABC company is reporting a collection or bad payment history and right under it is a collection agency with the same debt. This gives you a double whammy against your credit score. If you find this to be the case, send a correction letter to the credit bureau and explain that the debt is being reported twice. They will usually remove the oldest entry.

Now, you are going to send a dispute letter to EACH credit bureau for EACH negative remark that appears on your credit report, even if the negative remark is legitimate, we are still going to dispute it. Each letter must be sent via certified mail, as of this writing it costs about $3.00 to do this. So, if you have 10 negative remarks, it will cost you thirty dollars in postage for EACH credit bureau. That’s assuming that all negative remarks appear on all three credit bureaus, which is highly unlikely.

I believe that you should send one certified letter for each bureau per (total of three letters per day) day instead of all ten at once. I can’t prove this, but it makes sense to me that if all ten letters arrive on the same day, theoretically, all ten could land on the same inspectors desk, which may cause her to group all of your disputes together giving each dispute less attention. Again, this is my theory, mail them all at once if you like.

Here is the letter you should send, obviously, substitute your personal information in the sample letter:

Today’s Date

Your Full Name
Current Address
Current Phone Number

Attention: {insert credit reporting agency name} See addresses below
{add CRA address here}

Dear {credit reporting agency}

This letter is a formal request to correct inaccurate information contained in my credit file. The item(s) listed below is/are completely (insert appropriate word(s) {inaccurate, incorrect, incomplete, erroneous, misleading, outdated} ). I have enclosed a copy of the credit report your organization provided to me on {insert date of report here} and circled in red the item(s) in question.

Line Item: {insert name of creditor, account number or line item number)

Item Description: (this info is found on your credit report)

Requested Correction: (describe exactly what you want. If you want an item deleted say so and explain why. If you want an item corrected or updated, provide the correct information such as names, dates, amounts and so forth and any evidence to support your claim).

In accordance with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), I respectfully request you investigate my claim and, if after your investigation, you find my claim to be valid and accurate, I request that you immediately {delete, update, correct} the item.

Furthermore, I request that you supply a corrected copy of my credit profile to me and all creditors who have received a copy within the last 6 months, or the last 2 years for employment purposes. Additionally, please provide me with the name, address, and telephone number of each credit grantor or other subscriber that you provided a copy of my credit report too within the past six months.

If your investigation shows the information to be accurate, I respectfully request that you forward to me a description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the item in question within 15 days of the completion of your re-investigation as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

I thank you for your consideration and cooperation. If you have any questions concerning this matter I can be reached at (insert daytime phone number including area code).

Sincerely,

Signature
Printed Name

Once these disputes are made, you must wait 45 days from the credit bureau’s receipt of the dispute letter. Chances are they will have responded to most or all of your disputes. In their response they will tell you that they either have validated the remark, or they were unable to validate the remark. as each letter arrives form each bureau, notate in your notebook under each debt what each bureaus’ decision was.

It is highly likely that one bureau could validate the negative remark while another one removes the negative remark. It is very important to keep organized in your notebook which credit bureau is reporting which negative remark. If you do not get a response to one of your disputes from a credit bureau within 45 days you must send them this letter below which will cause them to have to remove the negative remark:

Today’s Date

Full Name
Current Address
Current Phone Number

Attention: {insert credit reporting agency name}

{add CRA address here}

RE: Dispute Letter Dated {place the date of your initial letter here}

Dear {credit reporting agency}

This letter is a formal notice that you have failed to respond in a timely manner to my letter dated, {place the date of your initial letter here}, and deposited by registered mail with the Post Office on that date. For your benefit, and as a gesture of my goodwill, I will restate my dispute:

Line Item: {insert name of creditor, account number or line item number}

Item description: (found on your credit report)

The item: is completely (insert appropriate word: inaccurate, incorrect, incomplete, erroneous, misleading, outdated) and needs to be corrected immediately. I have enclosed a copy of your organization’s credit report dated {insert date of report here} and for your convenience, circled the item described above.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires you to investigate and respond to my dispute within 30 days, yet you have failed to do so. I feel it necessary to remind you that you may be liable for your willful non-compliance and that I am maintaining a careful record of my communications with you on this matter, in case your continued non-compliance forces me to file a complaint with the FTC. (See Title 15 USC 41)

Please do not delay further! {insert the appropriate word here} (Delete, Update, Correct) the information identified above and send corrected credit profile to me and to all creditors who have received a copy within the last 6 months, and the last 2 years for employment purposes.

If your re-investigation was negative, please supply the description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information to my address listed above.

Sincerely,

Signature

Your Printed Name

Now, if you legitimately do not owe a debt, or do not deserve the negative remark being reported about you and the credit bureau is validating the negative remark (not removing it). You can appeal their decision. You will have to come up with proof that disproves the creditors reporting, or prove that the credit or cannot validate the information they are reporting about you.

Now that you have disputed all of your negative remarks, appealed, and all of the negative remarks have been validated by the credit repositories, you must now move your fight to the creditors and collection agencies that are reporting the negative remarks about you.