michele asked:


I have disputed all three credit bureaus and one deleted 3 items and the other bureaus items remain, can they do that?

Lois

digital321 asked:


here’s the thing… i’ve checked all 3 credit bureaus and i have good scores and bad scores, so is there a way i can lookup a credit card company by the credit bureau it uses to determine whether to give a card to someone or not? does that make sense? lol.

Billy

digital321 asked:


here’s the thing… i’ve checked all 3 credit bureaus and i have good scores and bad scores, so is there a way i can lookup a credit card company by the credit bureau it uses to determine whether to give a card to someone or not? does that make sense? lol.

Edgar

John asked:


Who do I send a DV letter to Allstate Adjustment (company I am disputing) or to the 3 credit bureaus?

Erik

johnnyq asked:


Will the updates/changes be made across all 3 credit bureaus?

Josephine

fyrfox81 asked:


The company i have the account with does not report to the credit bureaus, so i wanted to find out if i could do it myself with a print out from the company I have the account with?

Raymond

happy asked:


I am facing a situation with a Credit Bureau – Equifax. It is regarding my personal information being updated incorrectly on my credit file they have. After providing them the proof of my correct date of birth, they did change it to the correct one on July 12, 2007. I noticed effective July 24, 2007 it has been changed back to the incorrect one that I disputed earlier. Upon my calling Equifax I was informed that they will change my personal information based on the report they receive form their member creditor(s).

My concern is that they rely more on their member creditors than the proof that was provided to them for my correct date of birth. I wonder if Equifax, and other credit bureaus for that matter, would do the same for any personal information.

I would appreciate any suggestion you can provide on how to handle/deal with this problem.
I have already provided them copy of my DL and they did change it to correct DOB on July 12, 2007. But I was told by Equifax today that based on a member creditor’s report they changed DOB back to the incorrect one. I unsuccessfully tried to have them explain to me that why they rely more on member creditor’s report when they have proof of my DOF in heir files. It was VERY frustrating. They won’t tell me which creditor reported wrong DOB, instead they suggested that I should call ALL the creditors I have/am dealing with.

Timothy

Mike Geraghty asked:




1. Request all three of your credit reports from Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. You will most likely come across several errors as it’s estimated that up 70% of all credit reports contain errors. It’s likely that the information will vary between the 3 credit bureaus. You can order your credit reports free of charge from several places. (I’ve listed a great free resource at the end of this article). You can do this once a year. You can also request a free copy of your credit report anytime you are denied credit as long as you request it within 60 days of your credit denial. If you have been denied credit, copy the credit denial letter from the creditor (which they are required to send to you after they deny you credit) and include that with your request. You are also entitled to a free copy of your credit report anytime you are denied insurance, or if you are unemployed.

2. Analyze all 3 copies for errors. You’re likely to come across entries that you don’t recognize. Also look for duplicate entries, misspellings of your name, and old and/or inaccurate addresses. This is very important. Any negative or inaccurate item which is tied to an old or inaccurate address should be noted and removed. Also look at the inquiry section. Contact these creditors you do not recognize and that you do not recall applying for credit, and request that they remove the inquiry from your credit report. Some may, some may not. Note: this is really only important if you have a lot of inquiries.

3. If you are receiving collection letters from a collection company or a collection attorney, always respond back in writing requesting validation of the alleged debt within 30 days of receiving the letter. Basically this means you are asking them to prove that this is a valid debt of yours AND that they have a legal right to collect the alleged debt. They must provide you written proof of the debt. If you ignore the collection letter without writing them for “debt validation”, the law says they can assume that the debt is valid and belongs to you. Please don’t ignore this important step.

4. Dispute the items on your credit reports that you feel are inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading. When you have targeted the items to be disputed, create 3 folders for each credit bureau so that you can keep everything easily organized and separated by credit bureau. Be sure to make copies of all dispute letters and copies of your credit reports and keep each separated and filed accordingly. IMPORTANT: Handwrite all of your dispute letters. Trust me on this. Handwritten letters are sorted and separated from typed (form) letters by the credit bureaus for investigations. Typed letters risk getting flagged as being written for you by a credit repair company. And the credit bureaus tend to believe that credit repair companies simply dispute every single negative item regardless of accuracy, which runs the risk of your disputes getting flagged as “frivolous”. They may or may not flag it, but you don’t want to risk it. Be sure to mail all letters by certified mail. The credit bureaus have up to 45 days to investigate your disputes, so be sure to document the dates of the letters as well.

Within 30-45 days you should receive the results of the credit bureau’s investigation. They will either verify, update, or delete the information.

5. Work on adding good credit to your credit reports. Look into bad credit secured and unsecured credit cards. Pick 2 or 3 max, as you do not want to apply for too many credit cards at once. This appears as though you are desperate for credit, adds too many credit inquiries on your credit reports, and can lower your credit scores.

6. Opt out of all credit and credit related promotional offers. All 3 credit bureaus have information explaining the opt-out process. Write to the address they indicate for opting out of all credit related offers and promotions.

Cindy

Justin Smith asked:




Raising your credit score can be a fairly simple and straightforward process unless you have derogatory marks that need to be disputed (which will be explained below).

The reasons for bad credit can be as follows, high balances, bankruptcies, late payments, and many others. The most significant thing you can do to raise your score is to change your financial habits. Chances are that if you have a bad credit score, you did something to make it that way. Here are some of the best ways to quickly raise your credit score:

1. The most obvious: pay off your debt! This doesn’t include a home mortgage, but revolving balances such as credit card debt, a car loan, etc.

2. Make every payment on time. This is the most important factor in your credit score rating. If you have had late payments in the past, it will take some time to see real results from your on-time payments, but keep it up, sooner or later the credit bureau will notice the change in your payment habits. Develop the mentality that no late payment is acceptable!

3. If possible, pay over your minimum amount. This is especially important with credit card balances, and will reflect a slight boost in your score.

4. If you have paid off all your debt, and your credit score seems to be at a stand still, you might want to make small purchases each month with your credit card and pay them off immediately. Often times the credit bureaus like to see at least some kind of activity. Otherwise, they have no way to gauge how you are doing financially.

5. Be patient! Sometimes repairing credit can be a long and arduous process. Especially if you have had a bankruptcy. It can often take the better part of a year or more to see any significant raises in your score.

Clearing a derogatory mark on your credit report:

This is probably the most difficult in regards to credit repair. If you have requested a copy of your credit report, and notice a problem (an example would be a late payment mark), that shouldn’t be there, you need to take action to get the derogatory mark cleared as soon as possible. It is extremely important to get your credit score cleared before you attempt to get prequalified for mortgage.

Here are the steps you should take:

First of all, if you are in contact with a loan officer, you may want to describe the problem you are having to them. They can be very helpful when it comes to credit repair, and should know exactly what to do if you have a bad mark on your credit that is a mistake. In some cases, they may even call the creditor for you to address the situation.

Second, you should call your creditor and each credit bureau to find out which course of action you should take. In most cases, writing a letter will do. Here is an example letter:

Date 00/00/00

Dear Big Credit Bureau,

This letter is a complaint that you are reporting inaccurate and/or incomplete credit information on my credit report.
I am displeased that you have included the below information in my credit profile that includes the following errors. Credit reporting laws ensure that bureaus report 100% accurate credit information.

The following information concerning my credit report needs to be re-investigated. I respectfully request to be provided proof of this alleged item on my credit report. If this cannot be provided, the item must be deleted from my report as soon as possible:

CREDITOR AGENCY, acct. 123-34567-ABC

The listed item is inaccurate and/or incomplete, and is a serious error in reporting. Please delete this information, and supply a corrected credit profile to all creditors who have received a copy within the last 6 months, or the last 2 years for employment purposes. Also, please provide the name, address, and telephone number of each credit grantor or other subscriber.

Under federal law, you have 30 days to complete your re- investigation. Be advised that the description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information is hereby requested as well, to be provided within 15 days of the completion of your re-investigation.

Sincerely,

your signature

Your Name

SSN# 123-45-6789

Unfortunately, you will need to write 3 separate letters to each of the 3 major credit bureaus. Here are the contact addresses for each:

Trans Union

P.O. Box 1000

Chester, PA 19022

1-800-888-4213

Equifax

P.O. Box 740241

Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

1-800-997-2493

Experian

P.O. Box 2104

Allen, TX 75013-2104

1-888-397-3742

Susan

Divya Mishra asked:




Unsecured lenders and other financial institutions involved in the business of managing and regulating debt in the economy often strive to present themselves as efficient and effective organizations. Credit card issuers will cut off their right hand before they even admit that they might have made a mistake when computing your statement. If they cannot convince you on this point, they will try to confuse you and somehow try to prove that you are the person to blame for the mistake.

Show me one person who has a written confirmation often error in the credit card statement and I will show you a very rare person on this planet. The same is true for credit bureaus as well. They will dispatch your reports as if it is holy writ but the truth is that bulk of these reports often contain the most fundamental and basic errors. This is particularly shocking because the entire economy is based on the credit report of the individual. I

If you have a high credit report, you can open a checking account without any difficulty, get affordable insurance, purchase a car without trouble and leave in your house without losing your self respect. Despite knowing the importance of the credit score, there are numerous errors in the credit report. That is the reason why a well established procedure has been laid down as far as resolution of errors are concerned. You will have to raise a dispute on the information that has been provided.

You will have to formally inform the credit card issuer or unsecured lender and the credit bureau that there is a dispute in your credit report. You will have to submit copies of documents that support your claim. The credit bureau will take thirty days to access the problem and determine whether your claim is right or not. If your claim is accepted as the right version of the report, it shall be incorporated and each and every employer whom you want acted in the past two years will be informed of the change.

The same goes for each and every lender whom you contacted in the past six months. This process may seem like very simple but there always is a possibility of the unsecured lender raising a counterclaim. In such a scenario, the entire affair can become very messy. The fact that you do not know much about finances will work against your favor.

This is why you should make use of the services of professionals. They will step in and complete the entire process and leave you with a credit report that is completely free of errors.

Karen