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DIY Credit Repair Step 3: Write Your Dispute Letters

August 6, 2010 By Christine View Comments

Once you’ve finished reviewing your reports and highlighting the inaccuracies, it’s time to write your dispute letters. This is a sample letter I’ve written that you can use to start the dispute process.

Sample Credit Report Dispute Template Letter

You can write to the credit bureaus at these addresses:

Equifax
P.O. Box 7404256
Atlanta, GA 30374-0256

Experian
Dispute Department
P.O. Box 9701
Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion
Consumer Solutions
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022-2000

Send everything to the bureaus by certified mail so that you can track their receipt and monitor their responses. Keep copies of everything you send and document everything.

DISCLAIMER:
****CHRISTINE SPRINGER IS NOT A LICENSED ATTORNEY OR FINANCIAL ADVISOR. THIS BLOG IS COMPRISED OF HER OPINIONS, OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL OR FINANCIAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY OR FINANCIAL ADVISOR BEFORE RELYING ON OR TAKING ANY ACTION BASED ON THE INFORMATION IN THIS BLOG.****

Filed Under: credit repair Tagged With: credit dispute letter; sample credit dispute template; credit disputes; write your letter disputing information; DIY credit repair steps

DIY Step 2: Scrutinize Your Reports and Keep Good Records

August 2, 2010 By Christine View Comments

When I did my own DIY credit investigations several years ago, I found it useful to useful to set up a file folder with the name of the credit bureau and the date of the inquiry so that I could track patterns in the reports. (I’ve found this type of recordkeeping useful in other areas of my professional life.)

If you ultimately wind up getting nowhere with specific items on your report, it could be very useful to be able to demonstrate your efforts should you have to escalate your efforts to get something removed.

I suggest you make a photocopy of each report so that you can write on it. I’d suggest using highlighters. Go through each report individually and look for inaccuracies throughout the report.

For example, if your name is misspelled, highlight that. If your employment history or address history is incorrect, highlight that. Especially go through all the account information and highlight areas that are inaccurate. Even if you think part of the entry is legitimate, if part of the information is inaccurate, you could get the entire entry deleted if it cannot be verified.

You’ll also want to go through the inquiries to see who’s been reviewing your credit reports and highlight anything that looks unfamiliar.

These highlighted marks will guide you for Step 3 of the DIY process and make your letter writing easier.

DISCLAIMER:
****CHRISTINE SPRINGER IS NOT A LICENSED ATTORNEY OR FINANCIAL ADVISOR. THIS BLOG IS COMPRISED OF HER OPINIONS, OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL OR FINANCIAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY OR FINANCIAL ADVISOR BEFORE RELYING ON OR TAKING ANY ACTION BASED ON THE INFORMATION IN THIS BLOG.****

Filed Under: credit repair Tagged With: DIY Credit Repair, do it yourself credit repair; christine springer; DIY credit repair; have good credit

DIY Credit Repair Step 1: Get Your Credit Reports

July 29, 2010 By Christine View Comments

The first step to get started is to obtain copies of your credit reports from all three credit bureaus. Consumers are entitled to a free copy of their report once each year, depending on which region of the country you live in. You can use the Annual Credit Report site, but I have a couple of caveats.

First of all, the domain name is confusing. Be careful that you request your report from the real Annual Credit Report site and not another site that charges you money for the report. (My link above will take you to the correct site, by the way.)

Further confusing the issue is that you still have to pay for your score, which is not included with the free reports every year. So if you wind up on a website that requires you to pay for something, you are probably not on the correct Free Annual Report webpage.

Second, I think the credit bureaus have set up the online request process to make it difficult for you to get your reports. I’ve personally never been able to get my Equifax report because I couldn’t answer the questions about myself correctly, which I find strange….it is my information, after all!

The online portal was probably set up to cut down on the credit bureas’ administrative burden under the law. It probably costs them a fortune to process all the investigation requests and the fewer requests they get, the better.

Because of these two issues, I suggest you send a written request to the credit bureaus instead of using the online request site. I’ve used this form, which I’ve downloaded directly from the Free Annual Report site to successfully request all three reports:

Free Annual Credit Report Written Request Form

You only have to print it out once and send it in to the address on the form to get all three of your free reports. I suggest you use a tracking service, such as certified mail, to make sure the credit bureaus receive it. Then wait for the reports to arrive in the mail.

You are only entitled to one free report each year, and if you’ve already used your one-per-year request, you will need to pay for the reports, which could add up if your dispute process lasts longer than a few months, because you may have to pay for additional reports and scores.

Last year I subscribed to credit monitoring service that allows me access to my credit reports anytime I want. I use True Credit and have actually been happy with the service overall. They send alerts every time something changes. (Disclosure: I was not paid anything to mention True Credit!)

It might actually be cheaper to subscribe to a service than paying for multiple credit reports while you clean up your credit. Do the math on this and see if it makes sense for you. I didn’t initially think the service would be that useful, but I think it will be useful in documenting the changes in my own credit score.

DISCLAIMER:
****CHRISTINE SPRINGER IS NOT A LICENSED ATTORNEY OR FINANCIAL ADVISOR. THIS BLOG IS COMPRISED OF HER OPINIONS, OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL OR FINANCIAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY OR FINANCIAL ADVISOR BEFORE RELYING ON OR TAKING ANY ACTION BASED ON THE INFORMATION IN THIS BLOG.****

Filed Under: Credit Score, credit repair, credit repair Scam? Tagged With: Free Annual Credit Report; Have Good Credit; DIY Credit Repair; True Credit; credit monitoring service

Get Your Finances Under Control Before You Repair Your Credit

July 28, 2010 By Christine View Comments

I’ve personally been down the DIY credit repair route before and I learned a lesson: it doesn’t do any good to fix your credit if the underlying issues relating to debt and overspending are not addressed.

Simply put, it doesn’t do you any good to start fixing your credit unless your financial situation is under control. I think, as Americans, we need to be honest with ourselves about our finances. We’ve been overspending for years and now that things have become economically challenging, many of us have been caught in a tough financial position.

I think this step is addressed by having a plan to deal with how you will pay your bills in the future. I’m not a financial advisor, but there are plenty of people out there who are and can help you come up with a get-out-of debt plan. Some people advocate budgets; others have other systems for dealing with how to pay bills. I’m sure we’ll spend some time talking about this more in depth in future posts, but I wanted to mention it before we start talking about how to repair your credit.

The point is, come up with something that is workable for you, because if you don’t pay your bills, your credit repair efforts will be a waste of time and money.

DISCLAIMER:
****CHRISTINE SPRINGER IS NOT A LICENSED ATTORNEY OR FINANCIAL ADVISOR. THIS BLOG IS COMPRISED OF HER OPINIONS, OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL OR FINANCIAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY OR FINANCIAL ADVISOR BEFORE RELYING ON OR TAKING ANY ACTION BASED ON THE INFORMATION IN THIS BLOG.****

Filed Under: credit repair Tagged With: do it yourself credit repair; christine springer; DIY credit repair; have good credit

American Credit Builder

September 23, 2006 By Administrator View Comments

I found this review of AmericanCreditBuilder.com. It’s very interesting and well worth your read. I really enjoy it when someone reviews a product or a service for the sake of information and not to use it to sell you the product.

Nice job Chuck Jaffe.

American Credit Builder helps members build their credit rating by making sure nontraditional payments are part of the mix. Credit bureaus normally focus on charge cards and consumer loans, but American Credit Builder gets them to look at utility payments, rent and other regular expenses. Reporting these payments to more than 175 credit bureaus is supposed to help establish a responsible credit history.

Hard to tell what fix is in with this credit-repair service – MarketWatch

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Credit Scores

September 21, 2006 By Administrator View Comments

Texas has the lowest average credit score, 650, but as the article points out that score is not that bad. Read on for more details.

A lower score leads to higher interest rates on everything from credit cards to mortgages, Orman saidA score of 850 is the highest one possible, and an ideal score is around 760 or above, according to Orman. Anything below 700 will leave consumers with high interest rates, and anything below 600 will take at least three years to repair.Repairing credit scores starts with paying off credit cards, starting with the one with the highest interest rate, Orman said.”Keep paying the minimum on all the rest,” Orman said. “As you keep doing that, you roll it down and roll it down and guess what? Before you know it, you’ll be out of credit card debt.”

nbc5i.com – News – Good Credit Scores Vital

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Truth about Credit Repair Companies

September 14, 2006 By Administrator View Comments

This should not come as a surprise to you that no company can guarantee they can remove negative credit marks.

The only ones who can permanently remove the debt from your record are the credit bureau or the creditor, and there is nothing that a credit repair service can do for you that you can’t do for yourself.There are a number of credit repair agencies out there making promises that they can give you a fresh start and remove all negative items from your credit report, even the accurate ones. This just isn’t possible. Understand how credit repair works and what credit repair companies CAN do for you – legally – before you plunk down more money you don’t have for empty promises.

Fraudulent Credit Repair Companies Make Promises They Can’t Keep

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Consumers Are Suing Credit Bureaus

August 23, 2006 By Administrator View Comments

This is really big. The courts are backing the consumer on accurate credit reports. This is a big win for the consumer. What is shouldn’t mean is we go an sue as soon as something is inaccurate, but rather us as a last resort.

Last month, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the credit bureaus are ultimately responsible for the reinvestigation of disputed information in their systems and cannot shirk that responsibility by blaming another group for the false information. Morris v. Equifax Information Services, 2006 WL 2043567.

More and More Consumers Are Suing Credit Bureaus

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Rapid Rescore

August 22, 2006 By Administrator View Comments

Ever wonder how mortgage companies can re-score your account in days to see if you can qualify for a loan? Check out this site below. Very interesting…

What is rapid rescore? Rapid rescore is a way of improving your credit score quickly, by correcting items and then having your credit score “rapidly” corrected. With rapid rescore, things such as charge offs and collections can be corrected. If you pay off a balance on a credit card that can also be taken into account, and can improve your score. Unlike with your typical credit report where changes in your score can take months or even years, rapid rescore makes those changes to your score in days.

Rapid rescore: Increase Your Credit Score Quickly – Associated Content

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Credit repair in an hour

August 10, 2006 By Administrator View Comments

Sounds super fishy to me!!! Has anyone used these guys? If so let us know…

Preferred Credit Solutions provides personalized credit consulting. They review all three credit reports and identify all negative items (derogs) and errors. After the complete review, they create a 2 page credit analysis and action plan detailing exactly what steps need to be taken to improve the consumer’s credit and raise their credit scores. This is all done over the phone and normally takes one hour. The cost is a one time fee of $179. Preferred Credit Solutions offers an unconditional money back guarantee and will refund all $179 if the consumer is not completely satisfied with the service. After the initial credit consultation, Preferred Credit Solutions will also answer all future credit questions for no additional charge.

mmdnewswire.com – New Service Announces 1 Hour Plan to Improve Credit Scores

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