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How
to Remove Negative Credit (Part II)
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Your
Rights Are Important!
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| All
Federal Laws are in the consumer's favor. This means you
have the advantage. The specific law used here is the
Federal
Fair Credit Reporting Act. |
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| One
part of this law states that when you dispute any information
contained on your credit file, the Credit Bureau must
verify the accuracy of the information with the creditor
who reported the information within 30 days. If they are
unable to verify the information within 30 days, it must
be removed. |
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| Congress
passed The
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) because they
felt we all deserve a second chance. This act gives you
the right to correct, update, amend and tell your side
of what happened to the credit community. These laws do
not work though unless you initiate and use them. |
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| The
Fair Credit Reporting Act sets certain guidelines
which credit bureaus and your creditors must follow when
reporting your credit file, as well as giving the consumer
certain rights. |
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| All
of this brings us to the fascinating task of working on
your credit reports. Begin by getting defensive about
your credit report. Remember that these credit reporting
bureaus are just private companies selling information
about you and are not your friends. You never authorized
your creditors to sell this information and you are not
sharing in the profits they and the credit bureaus are
making. |
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| Your
Six Basic Rights under The Fair Credit Reporting Act |
| 1.
You, the consumer, have the right to challenge the accuracy
of your credit report any time. |
| 2.
The credit bureaus must reinvestigate anything you challenge
without a charge. |
| 3.
The credit bureaus must reinvestigate within a reasonable
amount of time. 30 days constitutes a "reasonable amount
of time" unless the bureau notifies you otherwise (so
keep accurate records). |
| 4.
If the credit bureau finds an error in the challenged
item, they must delete or correct that information in
your files immediately. |
| 5.
If the credit bureaus cannot or do not confirm the challenged
item within 30 days, they must delete that information
from your files immediately. |
| 6.
You have the right to submit a Consumer Statement of your
view of the problem. If you, as a credit consumer, dispute
the accuracy of certain information in your credit report
and it is verified by the creditor as correct, then the
credit bureau is required to include your explanation
of your dispute, if you request, in your credit report.
Limit your explanation to no more than 100 words. |
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| Important:
You do not want us or any other company to file a dispute
for you because if the dispute is sent from anyone other
than you, the credit bureau will suspect that you have
paid someone to repair your credit and this will not work
as well as it could have if you sent it directly.
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| As
the Credit Bureaus did not lend you money, they are not
as concerned as you if the information they have is correct
or not. They are only paid to store the information. |
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| Consumers
working on their credit reports say many times their letters
are ignored by the credit bureaus. It is believed the
credit bureaus try to discourage consumers from working
on the reports by making it difficult. Consumers say even
with proof an item is not theirs, its removal from their
report can take three or four challenge letters. When
the credit bureaus say they have verified or confirmed
an item, it seems all they have done is verified it is
in their computers. THIS IS NOT ENOUGH PROOF!!! They need
to provide greater proof, so read on. |
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| Sending
your dispute letter by CERTIFIED RETURN RECEIPT MAIL greatly
increases your chance of a response. This should not be
done with the first attempt. Keep a record of when you
sent the dispute letters and what date you should expect
a response. If you have received no answer to your dispute
after 30 to 37 days, attack the credit bureau with a certified
return receipt letter, for an updated credit report demanding
the disputed items be deleted. If the bureaus do not reply
within the 30 days, it must be that the information was
either inaccurate, or it could not be verified. In either
case, according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the
items must be immediately deleted. |
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| Consumers
have found it possible to eliminate negative marks on
credit reports simply by going through this process of
disputing items over and over again. Since many creditors
won't take the time to defend the negative item, eventually
you can "repair" your credit through default by your creditor
not responding to the credit bureaus request to verify
the item. This commonly occurs. The creditors do not always
have time to deal with a bothersome piece of paperwork
and that is your advantage. We'll go into this more later.
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| When
you get the updated report carefully review it to see
if you have lost the negative items and to see if anything
else has changed. Consumers working on their credit report
have found while disputing one negative item, for no apparent
reason, another negative item or two disappeared. Usually
some progress is made each time you challenge, but do
not get discouraged if you don't get results each time.
Remember, the credit bureau would like you to quit bothering
them because if you aren't disputing the report, they
can legally continue selling it as profitable information.
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| After
you have received your response, repeat the process all
over again. Consumers who have successfully cleaned their
credit report say that they have denied a bankruptcy or
judgment and have received verification from the credit
bureau that it was in public record. They denied a second
time and some even a third time, and finally the credit
bureau deleted the bankruptcy from the report. So do not
get discouraged! Patience and persistence are important
keys to incredible success in repairing a damaged credit
report. |
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| The
creditors who reported the items to the bureaus must be
the ones to provide information to verify the dispute.
These creditors do not always have the staff and proper
records to verify all disputes within 30 days to keep
the item from being removed. So you can see how possible
it is to remove negative information from your credit
file. How well will this work for you? The only way is
to try. However, our research has shown that certain items
are easier to remove than others. |
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| Easier
Items To Dispute And Have Removed |
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- Items older than 2 years |
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Discharged bankruptcies |
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Charge-offs |
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Inquiries |
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Repossessions |
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Late payments |
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Accounts that were late but are now paid off |
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| The
reason these items are easier to remove is simple; when
you dispute an older account or an item that is now charged
off, the creditor is not too concerned with the account
any more. They may not even be able to find the necessary
information to verify the dispute. Even if the account
was once seriously past due, but now is paid off, they
usually will not take the time to verify the dispute since
they have already been paid. |
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| More
Difficult Items To Dispute And Have Removed |
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Accounts that are currently past due |
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Recent Bankruptcies |
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Judgments |
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IRS or State Tax Liens |
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Current collection accounts |
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| These
are more difficult because creditors keep these types
of accounts in their current files and they are expecting
you to pay them. That is why it will be much easier for
them to verify the information and keep the item on your
credit file. However, it is always worth a try. |
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| Important:
It is completely legal for you to dispute items on your
credit file even if you know they are correct. You are
simply testing to see if your creditors have maintained
the proper records to verify the dispute. You have a very
bad memory and forgot that the negative accounts on your
credit file are really yours. Federal
Laws require that the Credit Bureaus verify all disputes.
If they are unable to verify your dispute, the law says
it must be removed from your file. |
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