You have
the right, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to dispute the
completeness and accuracy of information in your credit file.
When a credit reporting agency receives a dispute, it must reinvestigate
and record the current status of the disputed items within a
"reasonable period of time," unless it believes the dispute
is "frivolous or irrelevant." If the credit reporting agency
cannot verify a disputed item, it must delete it. If your report
contains erroneous information, the credit reporting agency
must correct it. If an item is incomplete, the credit reporting
agency must complete it.
Under The Fair Credit Reporting Act effective October 1,
1997, a credit reporting agency has 5 days from the date of
receipt of a written investigation request to contact the
appropriate credit grantor about investigation the complaint(s)
and receive a reply back within 30 days of the original notification
date. Within 5 business days after the completion of the investigation,
the credit bureau (ie: Equifax,Transunion,Experian) must send
a written report to the consumer with its findings with a
copy of the revised report if there were nay changes made.
If a credit bureau can not verify that a disputed item is
correct as reported, it must modify or remove it from the
consumers' file. If the tradeline confirms a a later date
that the information was indeed correct, the credit bureau
will add the information back into the consumers' file. It
will notify the consumer in writing as to the changes, within
5 days of the change.
DO NOT expect information to be deleted just becsue a collection
account or debt has been paid. Derogatory items will remain
on you report for 7 years. The 7 year clock on a derogatory
item falling off your report does not start
until the item has been satisfied.
The consumer must write a letter of dispute regarding the
erroneous information reported by a specific credit reporting
agency. The letter must reference;
Your full name
Address
Social Security number
The tradline
Account numbers
Brief statement of what is incorrect.
Copies of supporting documents (if any)
The letter MUST be sent by overnight mail, with return
receipt requested. This verifies when the 30 day
clock starts ticking.
Credit reporting is an imperfect system and there are times
when you're credit is tainted and it's not your fault. Equifax,
Experian, and Transunion don't always report the same information.
If you are unable to spend the time to write the letters
yourself then you might want to hire a credit repair company
to do this for you. They will act on your behalf to write
the necessary letters to the 3 credit bureaus. There are many
companies to choose from these days and it might be in your
best interest to consult with your Mortgage Broker as to which
company will give you the best service.
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