Removing Inaccurate Information From Your Credit Reports
By: Stephen Snyder
I want to explore the one of the most important action you can take to increase your credit scores: removing inaccurate negative information from your three credit reports.
Be warned: should you decide to tackle this process yourself, it can be time consuming and frustrating.
What the Credit Reporting Agencies are Legally Required to do on Your Behalf when You Ask
The credit reporting agencies are required by federal law to remove inaccurate information from your credit reports free of charge. However, nowhere in the law does it say they have to make it easy for you.
Because the credit reporting agencies can’t charge you to remove inaccurate information from your credit reports, they make you jump through hoops…climb over walls…and inconvenience you in any way possible to accomplish this.
And just try calling them and getting through their phone menus. Sheesh!
How to Increase Your Credit Scores by Removing Inaccurate Information from Your Credit Reports
The concept is quite simple…you want to make sure there is no inaccurate, outdated, misleading, incomplete, or unverifiable information on your credit reports…especially if it’s negative.
Any negative inaccurate information that appears on your credit reports can have a dramatic impact on your credit scores.
And by dramatic, I mean bad.
I had a recent experience that once again proved how difficult it is to try to work with the credit reporting agencies.
I took time to review my credit reports a few months ago. With yellow highlighter in hand, I highlighted numerous inaccuracies on each of my three credit reports.
I hadn’t tried to speak with the credit reporting agencies directly over the telephone for years. But I was feeling adventurous…I thought I’d give them the benefit of the doubt, so I performed a little experiment to see if their customer service had changed in the last 13 years.
I mean, how bad could it be?
It should go something like this: you call each credit reporting agency…they promptly answer the phone…you talk to a real person…your issues get resolved quickly…you hang up in a few minutes…and everyone moves onto something else.
Right?
Wrong!
Not today.
Maybe on The Brady Bunch…but in the real world of mandated free credit reports…it’s just the opposite.
What I found was the entire experience was even more frustrating and stressful than I remembered. I almost needed to ask my doctor about anxiety pills.
It’s Obvious that the Credit Reporting Agencies do not want to Talk with You Over the Telephone
One credit reporting agency even forces you to go online. Talking to a person is not an option!
What about all the people who don’t have internet access or aren’t computer savvy? I guess the protection of the Fair Credit Reporting Act doesn’t apply to them.
You see, each credit reporting agency buries their telephone numbers deep into their websites. So deep it took me forever to uncover their contact information (and I consider myself to be pretty internet savvy).
And if that wasn’t enough, one credit reporting agency forced me to purchase my credit reports directly through them if I wanted their telephone number to dispute inaccurate information.
Here I am calling the credit reporting agency to dispute items on my credit report, and I can’t talk to anyone unless I know the secret code.
I already had my free credit reports.
I already purchased my credit reports-just not from them.
I even had my credit reports from my mortgage lender from a recent mortgage closing.
But the three sets of credit reports I already had weren’t enough!
In order to talk to someone at one particular credit reporting agency, I needed a certain ID code from my reports. None of the codes on any of the credit reports I already had worked.
So I bit the bullet and purchased my credit reports AGAIN…this time directly from the credit reporting agency.
And the ID still didn’t work!
I was about to call my doctor for the anxiety pills. I’m not kidding!
How they get away with this is beyond me. No wonder they frequently get in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for not abiding by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
It just became too frustrating and time consuming for me to fight with the credit reporting agencies to do something that is supposed to be my right under the FCRA.
I had enough.
I did exactly what they wanted me to do…I gave up…surrendered…waived the white flag…cried, “Uncle.”
Hey, I have books to write; seminars to conduct; planes to catch; employees to manage; etc. Life is too short to waste my free time jumping through hoops to appease the credit reporting agencies.
So I hired a lawyer.
But I didn’t hire just any lawyer.
Why a law firm is the best solution to helping you remove inaccurate negative information from your credit reports
I chose a law firm that specialized in this specific area of law.
After all, if you needed an eye operation-would you go to a foot doctor? Or when you filed bankruptcy-did you hire a divorce attorney? I hope not. Lawyers have specialties.
Don’t use your bankruptcy attorney to help you with errors on your credit reports. Lots of people assume that since the bankruptcy attorney helped with the bankruptcy, the attorney would know all about the credit reporting agencies. This is rarely the case.
Bankruptcy attorneys are good at helping you file bankruptcy, but pretty much useless in helping you remove inaccurate negative information from your credit reports.
So I did lots of research on how to find the best law firm to help me.
Here were my expectations for a law firm:
1. They had to live and breathe the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FCRA basically tells us our rights regarding our credit reports. If you have a few hours to spare, you can go here to read it.
2. I wanted former employees of the credit reporting agencies on their board of directors, within their company rank and file, or at least as consultants. Having an insider’s perspective on how the credit reporting agencies work was essential for success and is what separates the real thing from the scumbag credit repair clinics that advertise on telephone poles.
3. They had to abide by the legal guidelines Congress created for this type of service. These guidelines are known as the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA).
4. I wanted to make sure they had many years in business with a clean record with the Federal Trade Commission.
A pretty tall order-I know.
But considering the FTC makes a regular sweep of credit repair clinics and shuts down the crappy ones…finding the right law firm was easier than I thought it would be.
Is the term “credit repair” naughty or nice?
Law firms that specialize in helping you remove inaccuracies from your credit reports are often grouped in with other credit repair services that are not law firms. But there are major differences between the two.
You see, the companies that give this service a bad name are the credit repair clinics with no real experience in the credit reporting industry. Maybe the people who started these clinics got lucky getting inaccurate information removed from their own credit reports and decided to make a business out of it?
So I began researching.
I read boring stuff like court opinions, court settlements, case law, depositions…you name it-I read it.
It became very clear who I should steer away from…anyone advertising they were in the “credit repair” business and didn’t follow the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA).
Incidentally, I also became an expert in understanding CROA. Mainly because the way CROA is written-any person giving credit advice (like yours truly) could easily fall under CROA if they aren’t careful.
And if you violate CROA, very bad things can happen. So I try to be very careful with everything I write. After all, I don’t want to wind up with a new roommate named Bubba.
In early 2003, I was given a sneak-peek of a new credit-related product co-created by a very large company (that shall remain nameless because I still like them very much) and was co-branded with a semi-famous, yet irritating “know it all” blonde from CNBC.
I smelled trouble.
So I kept my mouth shut and didn’t bring it up…because, as you know, I don’t like pointing fingers and upsetting the apple cart.
Yeah right! Are you kidding?!
I told them exactly what I thought…
“This product, although very nice, will violate CROA and will land you in a class-action lawsuit.”
They ignored my advice.
I’m not kidding. I looked their vice president in the eyes and flat out told him what would happen as if I had a crystal ball in my hand.
Just recently, that company began wrestling with a class-action lawsuit concerning the very same product. (The vice president and most of his management team are now gone.) As a matter of fact, right now all three national credit reporting agencies are fighting similar class-action lawsuits. The plaintiff’s consider each of them credit repair organizations, which in-and-of itself isn’t illegal…it’s just illegal if you violate CROA.
One of the biggest myths surrounding credit repair is that people think it’s illegal. Nope, it’s not illegal. If done properly…and if they follow the federal guidelines…then it’s as legal as voting at 18 or driving a car at 16.
You just have to follow the rules. And the rules are clearly spelled out in CROA. Many companies will try to sell you credit repair services-but few are on the up-and-up.
I’ve found only a couple law firms that consistently play by the rules
After years of research I have been able to find only a couple law firms that consistently play by the rules. I know this because they aren’t being investigated by the FTC and don’t have attorney generals lining up to sue them.
Surprised that credit repair is 100% legal?
I bet you are.
The credit reporting agencies work very hard to convince you that ALL of these companies are scams and they can’t do anything more than you can do on your own.
That’s so untrue. There are legitimate companies that provide this service.
It’s no different than hiring a tax pro to prepare your taxes for you…or a lawyer to represent you in court if you are sued…or anything else that you can afford to pay someone else to do for you so you can keep yourself focused on your unique ability.
Sure, you can do those things yourself for free. But is it really free if you get audited or lose the lawsuit?
Bottom line: As long as the company follows the rules set forth in CROA…the credit restoration service they provide to you is ethical, legal, responsible, valuable, and time saving.
So again, credit restoration is not illegal. It’s only illegal if the company that is offering the service is not following the guidelines that Congress has set up.
Of course, the credit reporting agencies will try to make you think differently. They do a good job convincing the public, lenders, their business partners, and many others that all credit repair organizations are illegal. It’s almost as if they’re trying to brainwash you.
Law firms vs. Credit Repair Clinics
While the credit repair clinics are all about scamming you with no regard to what’s right or wrong…a legitimate law firm abides by CROA.
So what I’m basically saying is that you can fiddle around and try to remove inaccurate information from your credit reports yourself…or you can hire someone to do this for you so you can do more enjoyable things with your free time.
Personally, I decided to hire a law firm out of the pure frustration of trying to do it myself-and I know this stuff like the back of my hand!
If you really want to get right down to it…the credit reporting agencies forced me to hire a law firm.
The only reason the legitimate companies exist is because most of the credit reporting agencies make it impossible to easily talk to someone over the telephone to dispute incorrect information on your credit reports.
If the credit reporting agencies made it easy to correct errors on your reports, then law firms wouldn’t have to deal with representing people who have been run through the credit reporting agency ringer.
In summary, the credit reporting agencies consider you guilty until you can prove yourself innocent . Be sure you do everything in your power to remove any inaccurate negative information from your credit reports. It will serve you well and help you increase your credit scores.
Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_8906.shtml