Across the Nation
there are three major credit bureaus; TransUnion, Equifax, & Esperian
(TRW). There are, however over 2,000 smaller credit bureaus located in every
medium size city in the
If you are denied credit, the creditor, by law, has to let you know which credit bureau has the negative information. However, the other credit bureaus may also have the incorrect information. Therefore, when checking your credit you need to look at all of the credit reports.
The three major credit bureaus are:
TransUnion (410) 712-0034
Experian (formerly TRW)
(800) 682-7654
Equifax
(800) 685-1111
PAID IN FULL AS AGREED
CREDIT LINE CLOSED BY CUSTOMER
NOT RATED (TO NEW)
R1 RATING
DISPUTED (only if you feel that it is the best you can get)
DISPUTE AFTER RESOLUTION (same as above)
BANKRUPTCY
DISCHARGED BY BANKRUPTCY
CONSUMER COUNSELING
DISPUTE AFTER RESOLUTION
DISMISSED
UNPAID
MAKING PAYMENTS
SKIP
WAGE EARNER BANKRUPTCY
Under the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, you:
May obtain a credit report from the credit bureau for a reasonable fee ($8 to $15).
May obtain a credit report from the credit bureau at no charge within 30 days of being rejected for credit. You must send a copy of the rejection letter to the credit bureau.
May be represented by anyone of your choice at the credit bureau.
May dispute any information on the credit report that you feel is listed incorrectly. The credit bureau must re-investigate the information and within a reasonable time, verify the information. A reasonable time has been construed to be 20 working days by some credit bureaus.
May have derogatory information such as late payments and judgments taken off the credit report within 7 years. Bankruptcies will come off in 10 years.
May place a 100-word consumer statement in your file to tell your side of any derogatory information.
May have the credit bureau notify those you name (at no cost to you) who have previously received incorrect or incomplete information on you and provide them with the corrected credit report.
May have your credit report withheld from anyone, who under the law, does not have a legitimate need for the report.
May sue the credit bureau if it willfully or negligently violates the law.
The above nine items just list a few of your consumer rights.
The federal Trade Commission is responsible for correcting any credit report problem which a consumer has not been able to correct through the credit bureau.
FTC Headquarters
Federal Trade Commission
(202) 523-3830
If you feel there is a
violation of your credit report, you may write to the nearest FTC office with a
copy of it going to the FTC,
Don't expect the FTC to take an active interest in your case. They are there to monitor the credit bureau and only to take an active interest in the problem if there are many complaints about the same problem. If you have written the FTC, continue working to correct or restore your credit during this time.
Disputing information on your credit report...
This method is for direct correspondence with the credit bureau. If you find anything inaccurate, incomplete, incorrect, or obsolete, you have the right to dispute that item on your credit report.
The credit bureau then has a reasonable time to contact the creditor and have them verify the disputed item. A reasonable amount of time under the Federal Law has been construed to be 20 working days. However, you need to understand that with this type of transaction, it could take from four to eight weeks to receive your reply back. Technically, if the credit bureau does not respond back within 30 days, the incorrect or inaccurate item must be removed. If, after the credit bureau investigates the item and the information is found to be inaccurate or no longer can be verified, the credit bureau must delete the item in question.
It should be noted that when a negative item is more than two or three years old, many creditors will not respond to the credit bureau because of lack of records. Therefore, by law, the bureau should remove the item from your report. Since most creditors do not have the space to retain records for a long period of time, there may not be any documentation about your payment history.
Understand also that the creditor does not have to provide documentation to the bureau of the disputed item. They simply check various boxes on the statement as to whether you were late, paid on time, etc.
Get your credit report.
Review your credit report.
Decide which items you want to dispute.
Write letters.
Always hand write your letters in your own handwriting.
Keep copies of all correspondence.
Keep separate file copies on each credit bureau.
Follow up if needed.
Obtain results.
Make sure that when you dispute items on your credit report you do not dispute more than three items at a time. Get those corrected before you dispute three more. Persistence and patience are what you need to get the job finished. Just remember that it usually takes years to get incorrect or inaccurate information ON your credit report. Therefore, your credit report will sometimes take many months to completely clean up.
It is important that you keep copies of all correspondence going to and from the credit bureaus. Also keep separate folders for each credit bureau. That will mean three folders if you are disputing information on each credit bureau. (Example: Type your label to say: Esperian (TRW) Correspondence; Equifax Correspondence, and TransUnion Correspondence.)
If you do not receive a letter back within 3 to 5 weeks, send a follow-up letter along with all previous information. Credit bureaus are required to send you the results along with an updated credit report.
Account Paid as Agreed - After reviewing my credit report, I found where "Account name" and "Account Number" was paid in full and as agreed. Your rating is inaccurate. Please change this information immediately to reflect the current status.
Charge Offs - I paid "Acctount Name and Account Number" as agreed. You show this as a charge off, which cannot possibly be correct. Please correct the way you are reporting this. (Charge offs are an amount the department store has written off as a bad debt. It is then listed on the report as a charge off).
Not Mine - I do not recognize this account, nor have I ever been associated with them. "Account Name and Account Number" needs your complete attention. Please conduct your investigation and remove this from my file. Use this sparingly and only if all else fails. The creditor DOES NOT have to investigate further after locating your information (specific dates, amounts, etc...) They simply have to find your SS#, DOB, Etc...)
Late Payments - I was never late paying "Account Name and Account Number". I have always paid this account as agreed and on time. Please update your information.
Collections - This cannot be accurate. I have never had any of my accounts go into collection. Please review and remove from my file.
Judgements - I have never had a judgment against me, and you show I have two of them Case # and Case #. Please review and remove from my file.
Tax Liens - This is not mine. I was not aware of this until I received a copy of my credit report. Please review and remove.
Bankruptcy - This is not my bankruptcy. I have never filed bankruptcy. Please review and remove. The bankruptcy listing is not correct. Please remove. (Note that the dollar amount or date may be incorrect. Make the credit bureau verify the amounts. They may or may not be able to verify the amounts or the date). I want all items that are included in may bankruptcy removed from my file, which I have marked. I have included a copy of the itemized list of creditors included in my bankruptcy for you to compare. Thank you.
The credit bureaus have been known to leave the item on the credit report, but to flag the items covered under the bankruptcy. An example would be: Sears $100.00 (BK). They also have been known to delete the item altogether. The bureaus have not been consistent with this method, however most credit bureaus will tell you that it will stay on the report with the (BK) notation.
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