Credit Repair Action Plan 1
There is a lot of information on credit repair available and I have reviewed a great deal of it on and off the web. A lot of what I found was mostly promotional material for one service or another. I have used the information from the Federal Trade Commission website as the basis for this section because I wanted to present unbiased facts. The FTC information is in italics. The first thing that needs to be said is that the majority of credit repair companies are a scam. But don’t believe me here is a quote from the FTC concerning credit repair.
“The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says do yourself a favor and save some money, too. Don’t believe these claims: they’re very likely signs of a scam. Indeed, attorneys at the nation’s consumer protection agency say they’ve never seen a legitimate credit repair operation making those claims. The fact is there’s no quick fix for creditworthiness. You can improve your credit report legitimately, but it takes time, a conscious effort, and sticking to a personal debt repayment plan.”
See the full report at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre13.shtm
There are many companies that promise to be able to use the dispute process to remove negative items from your credit even temporarily and give you a short term boos in your score so that you can complete a mortgage application using the higher score. I have heard plenty of antidotal evidence about this but I have never seen any real evidence of this working. In addition the credit reporting agencies are well aware of this practice and from reports have taken measures to counteract this.
Step one.
Get a copy of your credit report and go over it thoroughly. To order, click on https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
Call 1-877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
You don’t have to spend any money or sign up for any additional services to get your free credit report. There are many sites that market themselves as having free credit reports but that require you to sign up for a monthly monitoring service before you get your free credit report. This type of service can be useful if you are actively tracking changes in your credit report but it is not necessary.
Step two.
Look for any mistakes on your credit report. If they are any mistakes that you can correct this will give you a quick boost. Genuine mistakes when removed will have the fastest impact on your credit score.
If you find any mistakes you can file a Dispute, a word to the wise, according to many people in the credit field don’t rely on the online dispute format. They recommend that you write a formal letter and keep copies of everything.
Explain to the consumer reporting company, in writing, what information you think is inaccurate. Include copies (NOT originals) of any documents that support your position. In addition to providing your complete name and address, your letter should identify each item in your report you dispute; state the facts and the reasons you dispute the information, and ask that it be removed or corrected. You may want to enclose a copy of your report, and circle the items in question. Send your letter by certified mail, “return receipt requested,” so you can document that the consumer reporting company received it. Keep copies of your dispute letter and enclosures.
Consumer reporting companies must investigate the items you question 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 is required to investigate, review the relevant information, and report the results back to the consumer reporting company. If this investigation reveals that the disputed information is inaccurate, the information provider has to notify the nationwide consumer reporting companies so they can correct it in your file.
When the investigation is complete, the consumer reporting company must give you the results in writing, too, 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 is not permitted to 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. If you ask, the consumer reporting company must send notices of any correction to anyone who received your report in the past six months. You also can ask that a corrected copy of your report be sent to anyone who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes.
If an investigation doesn’t resolve your dispute with the consumer reporting company, you can ask that a statement of the dispute be included in your file and in future reports. You also can ask the consumer reporting company to provide your statement to anyone who received a copy of your report in the recent past. You can expect to pay for this service.
Here are the web addresses for the three credit reporting agencies:
Equifax – http://www.investigate.equifax.com/
Experian – www.experian.com
TransUnion – www.transunion.com