Equifax Dispute
A dispute can be filed with Equifax by creating a dispute letter and mailing it to them. In your letter you will need to include a reason as to why the listing is inaccurate.
You can write a dispute letter yourself or you can hire a service to write it on your behalf. You should be aware that a dispute letter must be sent to each credit bureau.
This means if you have a charge off on your Equifax credit report then you will have to send a dispute letter to Equifax. In addition if that charge off is on your Experian and Transunion credit report you will have to send a dispute letter to them also.
Reasons for a dispute include; information is wrong, item out of date, account paid in full, not my account and others. The Fair Credit Reporting Act that was passed by congress gives you the right to dispute any listing on your credit that you feel is inaccurate.
In addition this act says the bureaus must remove a listing from your report if it can not be verified. This act is what the dispute process is based upon.
Upon receipt of your dispute letter the bureaus will investigate. During the investigation they will ask the creator of the listing to verify the account, the dates on the account, and the account balance.
In the item is not verified then the bureau must remove it from your credit report. Frequently investigations will result in the removal of bad credit from your report. This happens because many businesses are not willing to spend the resources to verify disputed debts.
However before the bureau will investigate your dispute they must say it is valid. There is no clear cut definition of what a valid dispute is.
It is common for bureaus to respond to a dispute letter with another letter that requests more information about the dispute. This is said to be a stall tactic the bureaus use to avoid conducing and investigation.
It only costs the bureaus money to conduct an investigation. There is no revenue in it for the bureaus, their customers are businesses.
I suggest hiring a service if you have considerable damage to your credit. However if you only have minor damage such as one or two negative listings then you can dispute your report yourself. If you do it yourself just be patient and persistent.
In sum you do not have to wait seven years for a bad credit item to be removed from your credit. You can dispute the listing and have it removed immediately.
You can write a dispute letter yourself or you can hire a service to write it on your behalf. You should be aware that a dispute letter must be sent to each credit bureau.
This means if you have a charge off on your Equifax credit report then you will have to send a dispute letter to Equifax. In addition if that charge off is on your Experian and Transunion credit report you will have to send a dispute letter to them also.
Reasons for a dispute include; information is wrong, item out of date, account paid in full, not my account and others. The Fair Credit Reporting Act that was passed by congress gives you the right to dispute any listing on your credit that you feel is inaccurate.
In addition this act says the bureaus must remove a listing from your report if it can not be verified. This act is what the dispute process is based upon.
Upon receipt of your dispute letter the bureaus will investigate. During the investigation they will ask the creator of the listing to verify the account, the dates on the account, and the account balance.
In the item is not verified then the bureau must remove it from your credit report. Frequently investigations will result in the removal of bad credit from your report. This happens because many businesses are not willing to spend the resources to verify disputed debts.
However before the bureau will investigate your dispute they must say it is valid. There is no clear cut definition of what a valid dispute is.
It is common for bureaus to respond to a dispute letter with another letter that requests more information about the dispute. This is said to be a stall tactic the bureaus use to avoid conducing and investigation.
It only costs the bureaus money to conduct an investigation. There is no revenue in it for the bureaus, their customers are businesses.
I suggest hiring a service if you have considerable damage to your credit. However if you only have minor damage such as one or two negative listings then you can dispute your report yourself. If you do it yourself just be patient and persistent.
In sum you do not have to wait seven years for a bad credit item to be removed from your credit. You can dispute the listing and have it removed immediately.
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posted by Credit Counseling at
10:21 AM
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