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Credit Repair
Credit repair involves removing incorrect information or adding correct information to your credit report. This is important because your credit report contains details that affect whether you can get a loan or insurance -- and how much you will have to pay for it.
The truth is you can help yourself to re-build a better credit record.
Step One
So, the first step in determining the accuracy of the information on your credit report is to obtain your credit report. Each of the major credit reporting agencies must provide you an annual credit report for free.
Step Two
Once you receive your report you can review it to see if it contains inaccurate information. Negative information like late payments or chargeoffs lower your credit score. Low credit scores make it harder for you to obtain credit and increase the interest rates you will pay for credit.
When negative information in your report is accurate, only the passage of time can assure its removal.
Most accurate negative information can remain on your credit report for seven years. Bankruptcy information can remain on your credit report for 10 years.
Information about an unpaid judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer.
There is no time limit on reporting: information about criminal convictions; information reported in response to your application for a job that pays more than $75,000 a year; and information reported because you’ve applied for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance.
There is a standard method for calculating the seven-year reporting period. Generally, the period runs from the date that the event took place.
Step Three
When you have identified inaccurate information or old information that should be removed from your credit report you should write to the credit reporting agency.
Tell them what information you think is inaccurate. Include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. In addition to providing your complete name and address, your letter should clearly identify each item in your report you dispute, state the facts and explain why you dispute the information, and request that it be removed or corrected.
You may want to enclose a copy of your report with the items in question circled. Your letter may look something like the this one:
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Date
Your Name
Your Address
Your City, State, Zip Code
Complaint Department
Name of Company
Address
City, State, Zip Code
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to dispute the following information in my file. The items I dispute also are encircled on the attached copy of the report I received.
This item (identify item(s) disputed by name of source, such as creditors or tax court, and identify type of item, such as credit account, judgment, etc.) is (inaccurate or incomplete) because (describe what is inaccurate or incomplete and why). I am requesting that the item be deleted (or request another specific change) to correct the information.
Enclosed are copies of (use this sentence if applicable and describe any enclosed documentation, such as payment records, court documents) supporting my position. Please investigate this (these) matter(s) and (delete or correct) the disputed item(s) as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Your name
Enclosures: (List what you are enclosing)
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Send your letter by certified mail, “return receipt requested,” so you can document what the consumer reporting company received. Keep copies of your dispute letter and enclosures.
Consumer reporting companies must investigate the items in question — usually within 30 days — unless they consider your dispute frivolous. They also must forward all the relevant data you provide about the inaccuracy to the organization that provided the information.
After the information provider receives notice of a dispute from the consumer reporting company, it must investigate, review the relevant information, and report the results back to the consumer reporting company. If the information provider finds the disputed information is inaccurate, it must notify all three nationwide consumer reporting companies so they can correct the information in your file.
When the investigation is complete, the consumer reporting company must give you the results in writing and a free copy of your report if the dispute results in a change. If an item is changed or deleted, the consumer reporting company cannot put the disputed information back in your file unless the information provider verifies that it is accurate and complete. The consumer reporting company also must send you written notice that includes the name, address, and phone number of the information provider.
Credit Repair Companies
No one can legally remove accurate and timely negative information from a credit report. The law allows you to ask for an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as inaccurate or incomplete. There is no charge for this. Everything a credit repair company can do for you legally, you can do for yourself at little or no cost.
If you do not feel up to the task of communicating with the credit reporting agencies you can get help from any number of credit repair companies. Here are two highly recommended choices:
- Lexington Law
Lexington Law is a Law Firm specializing in credit report repair. They have helped over 80,000 Americans improve their credit scores by removing inaccurate, misleading, or unverifiable information from their credit reports.
Lexington Law Firm is member of the online BBB and offers consumers a performance warrantee. From bankruptcies to charge-offs to tax liens, Lexington Law Firm has challenged virtually every credit problem under the sun and deleted over 600,000 such items to date.
- Credit Attorney
Over 70 million consumers are suffering from low credit scores due to inaccurate, misleading or unverifiable information that is being placed on their credit reports.
CreditAttorney is a Law Firm that provides low cost credit report repair services designed to challenge and remove negative credit report information thereby improving the consumer's overall credit score. Higher credit scores mean better interest rates on loans and mortgages. Creditattorney.com offers consumers a performance warrantee.
Resources
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