Do the Credit Reporting Agencies Have 30 or 45 Days to Process My Credit Challenge?
Good Question. The answer lies in how you obtained your last credit report. If you went through annualcreditreport.com to get your free yearly report, the credit bureaus have 45 days to process disputes. For all other methods, the credit bureaus have only 30 days.
Analyze the Results
You did save the original credit report your ordered, didn't you? And each item you challenged? Good, you will need them to evaluate how well you did. That is all part of step above, documenting your efforts.
When you get your updated credit report back from the credit bureaus, they will summarize what changed on your credit report due to your challenges. You can compare this report to your notes or to the previous credit report.
The results of each item will have been resolved in one of the following ways:
- If the listing is not mentioned in the results list, you must have forgotten to include it, or your request was not sufficiently clear. You will need to dispute that item again in your next dispute letter. The bureaus are legally obligated to respond in writing within 30 days, so if they don't, it is highly unlike they are ignoring you.
- The disputed item was investigated but verified. If the item was not removed, most likely, the credit bureaus just gave you a cryptic reason like "item verified". We know the credit bureau never actually talked to the information furnisher, but has used eOscar. The law states the bureaus can accept any proof you would like to submit and they will pass this documentation on to your creditor for consideration. So, be sure to send any and all documentation, if you didn't do it the first time. I would also hit them up with the method of verification technique, which is going to force them to expose the fact that they are using eOscar. You could also try disputing the listing again at a future time. Who knows, you may get lucky, and a different employee of the creditor may not be able to verify the item. If the account does come back as "verified", I recommend you try disputing the listing with the original creditor immediately.
- The disputed listing was investigated as to the correctness of the information within the listing (such as late pay notations) and the listing was found to be inaccurate or unverifiable. Remember, if the creditor doesn't respond to the bureau at all, this is the same as the listing being unverifiable. In this case, the negative listing will now show up as a positive listing, or it will be deleted from your report all together. This is the best possible outcome.
Repeat Your Credit Bureau Dispute
Keep disputing negative listings with the credit bureaus. If you hit on the right dispute, the listing could get completely removed from your report. For instance, if you dispute the date the account was opened, and the credit bureaus can not verify this information they delete the entire listing. You will need to change the reason for the investigation so the credit bureaus will have something new to investigate. The order of the reasons should be:
- Not mine or not my account.
- I didn't pay late that month.
- Wrong amount.
- Wrong account number.
- Wrong original creditor.
- Wrong charge-off date.
- Wrong date of last activity.
- Wrong balance.
- Wrong credit limit.
- Wrong status - there are about 20 of these.
- Wrong high credit - the highest amount you used.
For example, the first time you challenge a listing, you might say the account is "not mine." The second time through, you could say "never late."
- Be Persistent - Become more insistent, but not more threatening, with each dispute. Make sure your letters are clear and to the point. Remember, an employee at one of the credit bureaus has about 4 minutes to enter the dispute into the computer for analysis by e-Oscar. Remember if you call the company, this resets the clock on how long they have to get back to you. If you are on day 29 of the 30 days they have to get back to you and you call, the clock resets and they have 30 more days because you "provided them with more information".
- Be Creative - Create and utilize other techniques that may help further the idea the dispute letter is from a truly wronged and disadvantaged consumer. The checker is only interested in investigating disputes which are truly are erroneous and damaging.
- Do Not Bombard the Credit Bureaus With Disputes (about the same listings, that is) - Sending one dispute right after another is wasteful and counterproductive, even if you do use a different reason in your dispute. Again, you must remember to change the REASON for the dispute each time you submit. Otherwise, the dispute can be deemed frivolous and the credit bureau is under no legal obligation to take action. Also remember, credit repair is a time consuming operation requiring great patience. The rule of thumb is to wait 60 days between disputes of the same listing WITH A DIFFERENT REASON FOR DISPUTING.
- Be Assertive - If you feel the credit bureaus are ignoring your credit repair letters or handling them incorrectly, you can mention that you are thinking of hiring an attorney. For instance, if your request for an investigation goes longer than 30 days, the credit bureau is in violation of the law. Educate yourself on other possible violations of the law you may encounter during the credit repair process.
Specialize Your Credit Repair Techniques
Depending on the type of negative listing, you may also want to try these specialized techniques:
- Collections - This is actually an easy type of listing to deal with. We recommend five different methods for removing collections.
- Charge-Offs - Try disputing the information within the listing, like the date the account was opened, the high balance, the amount owed, etc. If any of the information is incorrect, you have a good chance of getting the whole thing deleted off of your report.
- Judgments - If you were never served for a judgment, you may have a chance of getting it vacated (voided), or there may be other technicalities that you can use. Check out our article, "Vacating Judgments" on how to do this.
- Dispute Directly with the Original Creditor - If well-spread out disputes with the credit bureaus does not work, dispute the listing with the original creditor.
Should You Dispute Personal Information?
Absolutely! Making sure your name and address are correct is critical in credit repair and prevents getting someone else's information on your report. Getting someone else's information on your report is called credit report merging and happens more than the credit reporting agencies like to admit - it's happened to me. The reason for this mix up? A credit bureaus matched can match wrong information on your report (like a misspelled name or address) with someone else's and their items suddenly appear on your credit bureau file.
The other reason you should clean up your personal information as it can gain you an advantage in credit repair. For example, sometimes a disputed account will have an address (like your old address) that does not appear on your report any longer. This can be reason enough for the bureau to delete the disputed account.
Some Helpful Tips:
- You should make sure only your current address is shown on your report. I had someone else's information appear on my report because their current address matched my former address.
- Only your full legal name should be on your report. This is especially important if your name is a common one.
- Check to make sure your social security number is correct. Incorrect SSNs are the number one reason reports get merged.
- Your current employer only should appear on your report, not your full employment history.
- When disputing this information, use words like "I've never lived here before", "This is not my address", "I've never worked here", or "My Social Security is not correct".
Free Sample Letters
- Requesting Removal of Inaccurate Information
- Follow-Up Letter to Send to the Credit Bureaus
- Removing Inquiries From Your Credit Report
- Complete List of Sample Letters to Use to Repair Your Credit
What if a Removed Negative Item Comes Back on my Credit?
Ok, you've removed a negative listing and are breathing a deep sigh of relief. Then you get a letter in the mail from a credit bureau telling you the item has been added back on. What happened?
When a removed item comes back, it has been reinserted. Unfortunately, this is actually becoming more common. Since the new credit laws require that the bureaus investigate and resolve your disputes within 30-45 days, they will sometimes remove the negative information temporarily until they get the information verified as true. Then they will put back any information verified to be true and notify you of this. By law, they can reinsert an item, but they have to notify you in writing within 5 days. (Another reason to document your credit repair efforts!)
If they DO NOT notify you in writing, it is an instant violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) with a $1,000 fine PAYABLE TO YOU. Many of our readers have had great success earning some easy cash by suing the credit bureaus for reinserted listings. Not only do you earn thousands, but the listing is removed from your report as well!
Keeping Your Credit in Good Shape
After the all the time and effort you have put into repairing your credit, the last thing you want to do is see your credit score go back down. Maintaining good to excellent credit is an ongoing process and requires continuous monitoring and work. Here are six easy steps to follow to ensure your credit score will stay in the healthy range:
- Keep An Eye On Your Credit Report
- Use Your Credit
- Keep Your Paid-Off Credit Cards
- Apply For New Lines of Credit in Moderation
- Make On-Time Payments on Your Current Loans
- Adjust Your Habits Accordingly
For more information, we have an excellent article on keeping your credit in good shape that you should read.
Feeling Overwhelmed With the Credit Repair Process?
Think you don't have the time? You do! Here is a sample credit repair time table to follow when repairing your credit yourself. You can also watch our credit repair video, starring Nookie, which talks about finding time to fix your credit.
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