Always dispute with the credit bureau first!

If you need to dispute a listing on your credit report, you should start by disputing with the credit bureaus first, rather than by first contacting the data furnisher (DF). (The data furnisher would be the creditor or third-party debt collector that placed the debt on your report.) Here is the reasoning behind this advice: You can dispute directly with the DF first, and they will still be legally obligated to comply with your request. But per the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), if you do not dispute with the credit bureaus first, you give up your right to sue the data furnisher if they fail to properly investigate your dispute! (Although at that point, you could still report the violation to the Federal Trade Commission and your state Attorney General, and they could then sue the DF.)

How should you go about filing a dispute with a credit bureau?

You have to be a little careful with this, and I’ll explain why: On the one hand, the FCRA protects you from having incorrect or unverifiable items listed on your credit reports. It requires the credit bureaus to investigate any information you dispute in a timely manner, and to delete or correct any information that can’t be proven to be accurate. Sounds great so far, right? Not so fast…

The credit bureaus actually have rights under the FCRA too. They have the right to ignore/refuse to investigate your dispute if they deem the dispute to be “frivolous”. Here are examples of what a credit bureau might consider to be a frivolous dispute:

-a dispute that is not specific enough
-a dispute that is written using a “form letter”–The credit bureaus reject these because they assume they come from credit repair companies (and no, it’s not illegal to use a credit repair company–the credit bureaus just don’t want you to). This is why I recommend that you never copy a sample dispute letter exactly; you should always use your own words!
-a dispute that is exactly same as one you have submitted previously
-a dispute that challenges too many items on your report at once–The credit bureau will assume you are disputing all the negative items on your report regardless of their accuracy.

Needless to say, you don’t want your disputes to be deemed frivolous, but at the same time you need to cover yourself when dealing with credit bureaus and data furnishers. So, I recommend the following approach:

Always dispute in writing, and mail the letter certified mail. I don’t recommend sending it with return receipt requested; I think the credit bureaus tend to associate that with the work of credit repair companies. You do need to know when they have received your letter, but you can track certified mail via the USPS website to see when it’s been delivered.

I know of some credit repair experts who recommend writing your dispute letter in strange colors of ink on colored lined paper. They suggest this because the credit bureaus scan dispute letters to be read by a computer that picks out the “form letters” so they can be treated as frivolous. Apparently the weird colors can’t be scanned, and the credit bureau employees will be forced to actually read your dispute in order to decide whether to ignore it or not. You can certainly do this, but I’m not sure that you really need to, as long as you use your own words in your dispute.

As for the wording of your dispute, I think it’s important that you don’t come across as too credit-savvy. The best tone to take is that of a genuinely concerned/upset consumer who might have some knowledge of his/her rights, but not too much. Remember, you don’t want to sound like someone who does this all the time (i.e., a credit repair company).

You can dispute an account in its entirety, or you can dispute the details of the account, such as the date of last activity, the high balance, late payments, etc. It’s important that you do not lie in your disputes; don’t dispute an account as “not mine” if you know that it’s yours.

What happens after you dispute with the credit bureau?

You will need to wait for the results of your dispute. Once the credit bureau receives notice of your dispute, they have 30 days to complete their investigation. They are supposed to contact the data furnisher to verify the accuracy of the listing. Hopefully, this investigation will result in the disputed listing being corrected or deleted entirely from your credit reports. But if it doesn’t, don’t panic!

What to do if the investigation results in the disputed item being “verified”

If a data furnisher verifies with the credit bureau that the listing is correct, you can and should contact the DF and ask them exactly what type of documentation they have that proves the accuracy of the derogatory item. Don’t be surprised if they have absolutely no documentation whatsoever. If that turns out to be the case, you will need to notify them in writing that they are in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act by listing unverifiable information on your credit reports. Advise them in writing that you will sue them if the offending items are not corrected or deleted, and that you will also notify the FTC and your state Attorney General. Send the letter via certified mail with return receipt requested.

Post from: Credit Repair and Debt Solutions

How to Dispute a Listing on Your Credit Report

Related posts:

1. How To Repair Your Own Credit Report – Part 3
2. How To Remove Public Records From Your Credit Report
3. Inquiries On Your Credit Report

I have summarized the FCRA below, but if you’d like to read the law in its entirety, you can do so here.

Here are your rights according to the FCRA:

-You may obtain copies of your credit reports upon request, and you are entitled to at least one free copy from each credit bureau annually. You may also receive free reports under the following circumstances: if you are denied for credit, insurance, or employment as a result of the information contained by your credit report; you are unemployed and plan to look for a job in the next 60 days; you are on welfare; or there are inaccuracies on your report due to fraud, including identity theft.

-You may dispute any information contained in your reports that you believe to be inaccurate. The credit bureau must then investigate the disputed items in a timely manner (normally within 30 days), and remove incorrect or unverifiable information from your credit files. Once the investigation is concluded, the credit bureau must notify you in writing of the result of the investigation within 5 days. If any change is made to your credit report as a result of your dispute, the credit bureau must send you a free copy of your report showing the change(s).

-If a disputed item is deleted from your report, but is verified as accurate later, the credit bureau may re-insert that information onto your report, but they must notify you of this action in writing within 5 days.

-Derogatory items may not appear on your reports for more than 7 years (with the exceptions of bankruptcies and tax liens, which may be reported for a maximum of 10 and 15 years, respectively).

-Personal information that has no bearing on your credit worthiness is not allowed to be placed on your reports (i.e. your race, religion, political party, criminal record, etc.)

-Credit bureaus may not dispense credit reports containing medical information without the consumer’s written consent. The name, address, or phone number of a medical creditor or collector may not be included on your report except in code, unless the report is being provided to an insurance company for insurance other than property and casualty.

-Creditors may not obtain or use your medical information/history to determine your credit worthiness.

-Medical information may only appear on your credit report when necessary to carry out the purpose for which that information was initially disclosed (in other words, once a medical debt has been paid, it does not belong on your credit report!).

-Not just anyone can pull your credit reports; they must have permissible purpose to do so. You also have a right to know who has inquired on your credit reports.

-You have the right to opt-out, which prevents the credit reporting agencies from selling your information to other parties for marketing purposes (yes, they do that! To make them stop, call 888-5-OPT-OUT).

-Your creditors are required to notify you before placing negative information such as late payments on your credit report. They must also notify you after they have reported negative information.

-You have the right to sue a credit bureau or furnisher of credit reporting information if they violate the FCRA. (You may sue creditors for failure to handle a dispute properly provided you disputed the debt in question with the credit bureaus first.)

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a very important law for which we should all be grateful. Before it was implemented in the 1970’s, data furnishers could pretty much report whatever they wanted on a consumer’s credit report, and a consumer did not even have the right to see his/her own report, let alone dispute the information it contained! So you can imagine how many people were unfairly denied credit during those days! The FCRA is also one of the building blocks of credit repair, so it pays to be familiar with the rights it grants you!

Post from: Credit Repair and Debt Solutions

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

Related posts:

1. How to Dispute a Listing on Your Credit Report