How To Remove Judgments and Bankruptcy / BK From Your Credit Report

Have  you searched everywhere online to find out how to remove judgments or a bankruptcy and asked all kinds of people, self proclaimed credit repair specialists or mortgage brokers, real estate agents, YouTube videos, DIY articles, answer websites, and other places?  If you've run into anything that is slightly related to the credit bureaus or strongly related to them, such as the bureau sites themselves, or credit report sites, or the FTC website, you will get the same regurgitated answers.  They will always tell you they have to stay on for 10 years. Hogwash, I declare!  I dare one of them to show me the law that says it has to stay on there that long.  In fact, that's almost the opposite of what the law says.

If you read articles and ads from credit repair sites, they will stop short of telling you how they do it because they want your business.  Oh, and the FTC doesn't want your business, but it sure seems like they want to help the bureaus make money off of you.  They prefer to deter you from getting help from someone who knows how by saying you should never pay someone because you can do it yourself.  Of course there's always the sites that are promoting the annoying Lexington "Law" type credit repair sites.  Click on that link, which is pretty much always an affiliate link, and someone's gonna make money off of you.  "Law firm" credit sites will tell you they take them off all the time but they are not interested in helping you learn how to do it because they want to make a couple thousand bucks off of you, or maybe just a grand before you get fed up and cancel months down the line.

I'm gonna tell you how to do it.  But first, one more thing.  The law about how long it has to stay on there. The FCRA says that negative accurate information CAN stay on NO LONGER than 7 years plus 180 days from the date of first delinquency and 10 years for things like judgments and bankruptcies.  See how they spin it to make you feel defeated?  I really get irritated with the misinformation and spin they all put out there.  And if you really want to help people get rid of negative items off their credit, why don't you give them the information if you're such an expert?  Are you really that worried that you will lose customers if you help people who want or need to do it themselves?  What? Are there really so few people out there with bad credit that you have to grab everyone you can?  Puhleeease!  Seems to me there are millions of people out there that need help with their credit.  There's enough work to go around while still helping those who want to do it on their own.

Okay, removing these items is for the most part, a 3 step process.  I'm not saying it works all the time, but if the bureaus would obey the law, it would work 100% of the time.  However, you will have a much higher chance of success if you do it this way.

Step 1:  Send a letter to the credit bureaus that are reporting the judgments and/or bankruptcy and tell them that you do not have a judgment or BK for $XXX dollars. Don't lie about the amount.  Now, if the amount is 100% correct, to the penny, remember, they don't report the change (35 cents, etc.) so if there's any change noted in the judgment at the courthouse, what is reported on your credit report is an error.  Same thing for BK. Usually I see bankruptcy reporting with $0.  Really?  $0 liability? Why on earth would someone file if they owed nothing?  If the public record is actually reporting a correct amount, then use a different mistake.  If you can't find one, make up something by claiming you "don't recall" having a bk or judgment on 01/01/2008 or whatever date. Not recalling the exact date that the county recorder entered into the record is not a lie, its a spin.  They have the burden of proof.  Also, many times they list the wrong court house.  Make sure you look at that also.  Okay, so that's the first step.  Dispute the negative judgment or bk (or both) with the credit bureaus.

Step 2:  Take a look at the address for the court for who is supposedly furnishing the information.  Judgments are usually county or local courts, bankruptcies are in federal court.  You need to write a letter to each of the clerks of the courts that are supposedly furnishing the information to the credit bureaus.  I keep saying "supposedly" because really they are not furnishing the information 99.99% of the time.  This letter you send the clerk is very basic.  You say, Dear Clerk of the Court,  I recently disputed information that was on my credit report that is not reporting accurately.  They verified the information and have told me I need to contact the furnisher of the information.  I am requesting that you send me your procedure for verifying information with the credit bureaus.  Thank you for your assistance.   Sincerely, pissed off consumer.  Okay, maybe you're not pissed off but in my opinion, you have every right to be!  Do not wait until you get the response from the bureaus to send this out.  Send it out at the same time as your bureau dispute to shorten the time for getting it off your credit report.

Step 3.  You now received the letter back from the clerk of the court.  Holy cow! It says that they do not verify with the credit bureaus. What a shock!  This means that those blood suckers are going to be sending you a credit report with a big fat lie on it!  Be prepared.  Now, you also get back the response from the credit bureaus, and you're gonna get it and say, "Shannon was absolutely right!  Now there's a real expert" - haha, just kidding!  But, 99.99% of the time, I will be right.  You may be a lucky one who got a data entry peon who felt like deleting just because, and that is great!  But for the rest of you victims, the report will claim it is verified and contact the furnisher of the information.  Its time for the 3rd action.  You send back a letter to the bureaus.  You say, "I sent you a dispute because this information is not accurate.  You verified it.  Please see the enclosed letter from the clerk of the court. You lied about verifying it with them. Further, please see the letter from the legal counsel for the FTC that I have enclosed.  I've highlighted where they have stated that public records often have mistakes on them.  YOU LIED about verifying a mistake.  PLEASE DELETE THIS IMMEDIATELY!"  I would say, 75% of the time, your response from the credit bureaus will show the item deleted.

And that's how its done!  Now, I mentioned an opinion letter from legal counsel for the FTC.  You can go on their website and read through all of the boring opinion letters till you find it, or you can email me and I'll email it to you, for only $499, but today only I'm reducing it to ONLY $47.  JUST KIDDING AGAIN!  I'll send it to you for free! You like free? I sure do. (Yes, I'm making fun of marketers, in case you didn't catch it).

Do you want to know some background on how the bureaus break the law, or at the very least, don't comply with the law, when it comes to removing public records?  If you do, keep reading, if not, then just email me if you need the letter.  Okay, here goes.

Except for the very minuscule number of courts that do furnish information or verify information to the credit bureaus, courts, their clerks, their secretaries, the judges, the trustees, etc., do not furnish information to credit bureaus.  They receive information from subcontracted scavengers that scour the public records and LexisNexis to find the judgment and bankruptcy dirt on consumers. So the furnishers of the information have no actual knowledge of anything, have no first hand information, are not a party to any of it.  They dig it up, read it and furnish it, then get paid. 

When you dispute, the bureaus have a responsibility to "investigate" but they do not contact the court or any other entity that could possibly have actual first hand knowledge. They put the courts' addresses on there to make you think that the courts furnish and verify, but that's a BIG FAT LIE!  What they really should have on there is the name and contact information for their little gophers who go dig up this stuff.  But, by law, or by legal definition, they have no right to "VERIFY" anything.  

Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed. - Verification:  Confirmation of the correctness, truth, or authenticity of a pleading, account, or other paper, by an affidavit, oath, or deposition. See McDonald v. Rosengarten, 134 111. 126, 25 N. E. 429; Summerfield v. Phoenix Assur. Co. (C. C-) 65 Fed. 296; Patterson v. Brooklyn, 6 App. Div. 127, 40 N. Y. Supp. 581. 

What this definition is saying is that the person "verifying" must be able to testify to its accuracy under oath, either by affidavit or in court or court proceedings such as a deposition. Now, in order to testify to such accuracy, the "person" would have to have 1st hand knowledge otherwise it is considered "hearsay" because the furnisher of the information is relying solely on public information that has been known to have mistakes. Here's what the courts say about "hearsay": 

“Testimony, whether live or in the form of an affidavit, to the effect that the witness has reviewed a file and that the file shows that the debtor is in default is hearsay and incompetent; rather, the records must be introduced after a proper foundation is provided.” New England Savings Bank v. Bedford Realty Corp., 238 Conn. 745, 680 A.2d 301, 308-09 (1996), later opinion, 246 Conn. 594, 717 A.2d 713 (1998); Cole Taylor Bank v. 
Corrigan, supra, 230 Ill.App.3d 122, 595 N.E.2d 177, 181 (2d Dist. 1992). 

“It is the business records that constitute the evidence, not the testimony of the witness referring to them.” (In re A.B., 308 Ill.App. 3d 227, 719 N.E.2d 348 (2d Dist. 1999) 

These are both Federal court cases on hearsay.

Now, do you see that not only are the bureaus liars, they are committing fraud, both mail and wire fraud, when they send you the report through the mail or make it available for you to check it online, and see "Verified"?  The person who furnished the information cannot possibly have 1st hand knowledge.  They shouldn't even be allowed to submit information to the bureaus because the FCRA commands ACCURACY and there's no way these scum can know if the information they found in the public records or elsewhere was input accurately.  They are not a party to the action, they are NOBODIES! 

Well, that was fun right?  It was for me.  I have fun teaching you this information and love that I am one of the few that tell you the actual truth.  Hopefully I have helped some of you fight this corrupt system that is supposed to be consumer friendly, but has so many loop holes for creditors and collectors, and sabotages aimed at consumers.  Here's to your success removing those judgments and bankruptcy entries from your credit reports!  

Please remember, if you just don't want to do it by yourself, I would love to assist you.  Give me a call or shoot me an email.  My contact info is right up  at the top of this page on the right.

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