Sunday, March 13, 2016

How To Write Bureau Dispute Letters - Part 2

I am very late at getting out this post and I am truly sorry.  I have been swamped with my own clients' letters and real estate duties and just haven't had the time to get to this.  Please accept my apologies for the long delay.

Let's get to the bureau disputes.  We will cover charge off's collections, repo's, foreclosures, settled accounts, accounts included in bankruptcy (IIB), and public records.  One thing that is important for you to know about some derogatory accounts is that some are not worth disputing.  Take charge off's for example.  If they are reporting a $0 balance, I don't bother with them.  I'm telling you that in more cases than not, if you remove them, your score will likely drop.

Accounts with $0 balances, even though derogatory, usually have more positive attributes that affect the score than the negative aspects, so they offset the damage that is being done.  Deleting them removes the good factors and the bad factors but because the good outweighed the bad, your score will drop.  We see this time and time again for clients that are adamant about removing old charge offs and settled accounts with $0 balances.  We warn them, we advise against it, but if they insist, we go after them and when we start seeing them removed, we see the score drop pretty much every time. I personally think that a higher score is more important than a totally pretty credit report.



Collections:  Always negative and I don't care if the balance is $0, I'm going to go after deletions on these.  Typical disputes are as follows:

  • (Round 1) I do not have any account with this company, have never heard of them and this needs to be deleted. 
  • (Round 2) You told me to contact this company and I have done so. FDCPA 809b requires this to be deleted until they validate.  I have requested validation and they have not produced it. Delete this now.
  • (Round 2/3/4...) Please produce the contract used to verify this account because I have none with them and the information you have is inaccurate.
  • Please provide the sworn affidavit used to verify and the accompanying documentation as required pursuant to Black's Law Dictionary which defines what "verification" actually is.  ~ then I copy/paste the definition of  "verification" to the letter.

Charge Off's:  This is only for accounts showing a balance, past due or both.  Typical disputes are as follows  - Do not dispute all the errors at one time. Dispute them 1 at a time, round after round:

  • (Round 1) The balance (and past due/or past due) on this account is incorrect. It should say $0. I do not owe any monies to this company for this account. Please correct or delete this.
  • (Round 1 or subsequent) You are allowing an inaccurate history of this account to be reported.  Please investigate, gather documentation proving accuracy, or delete this from my credit report.
  • (Round 1 or subsequent) This company does not have any information to verify as they have reported over and over in the history that they have "No Data (ND)".  As this is unverifiable, FCRA Sect. 611 REQUIRES you to delete this.
  • (Round 2 or subsequent) This is not verified. I contacted the furnisher as you told me to do and they have either refused to provide any documentation or they are unable to provide documentation proving the claim or the accuracy.  This remains inaccurate, incomplete and not verified. You are REQUIRED to delete this immediately according to FCRA Sect. 611.

Repos:  Many times you will have a repo auto loan account that has a balance because of a "deficiency" remaining after they sell the car.  I treat these as charge offs and dispute the same way but some times add a little twist.

  • (Round 1) You are allowing this company to furnish an incorrect balance.  The balance needs to show $0 because this account was paid in full by the asset protection insurance attached to it. Please correct to $0 or delete this account immediately.
  • (Round 1 or subsequent) Please investigate the history reported on this account. It is absolutely inaccurate. Correct or delete this immediately as anything inaccurate about the information they have furnished requires correction or deletion according to FCRA Sect. 611. Take care of this immediately.
  • For Repo accounts with a $0 balance I suggest that you send the company a notice to Cease & Desist ALL communications regarding the account. Advise them that furnishing or verifying information with credit bureaus is considered a "communication" according to the courts and a violation of your C&D notice.  For these types of repo accounts, once you have issued your notice to them your dispute should be as follows:
  • (Round 1) I do not have any account with this company and they have been issued a notice to Cease and Desist all communications with you.  Please delete this account immediately!

Foreclosures:  Sometimes foreclosure accounts will have a balance.  This is an obvious error. Dispute this as follows:

  • (Round 1) This account is inaccurately and erroneously reporting a balance that they know should be $0. Their intentional and willful furnishing of inaccurate information is a violation of FCRA Section 623 and according to FCRA Section 611 you MUST correct or delete this immediately.
  • (Round 2) I have contacted this company and requested the proof that they are reporting accurately.  They have failed to provide it within the 30 days the law allows them. This is inaccurate and unverified and you are required to delete this according to the FCRA. I expect you to comply with the law and remove this slander immediately!

Settled Accounts: For all settled accounts that are original creditors (except for repos), leave it alone!  For collections, send them a full Cease and Desist (C&D).  Then follow up with a bureau dispute that says:

  • (Round 1) I have no account with this company nor have I ever signed any contract to do business with them. They have neither lent me anything nor have they provided services to me for which I requested.  They are under an order to Cease and Desist and accordingly, this must be removed from my credit report immediately.

IIB Accounts:  Because a bankruptcy obliterates all debt, you no longer have any account with the creditor. It has been eliminated. If you had a bk that was dismissed, no account was in a bankruptcy because according to the courts, a dismissed bk is the same as never ita bk at all. Sometimes they erroneously report a balance as well. Dispute as follows:

  • (Round 1) I do not have any account with this company. Please delete this.
  • (Round 1) This account claims it was included in a bk. If that were true, which it is not, this would be violating the federal bk stay. Delete this immediately.
  • (Round 1) This account is erroneously claiming I owe them money, which I do not. This is an error and according to the FCRA, inaccurate information must be deleted.

Public Records:  Hopefully before you dispute these you have removed any addresses associated with it, especially bankruptcies. Do not send the court clerk or county recorder letter yet.  You may send the FTC staff opinion letter with the first round if you would like.

  • Bankruptcy (Round 1):  Your information is inaccurate. I do not recall having a bankruptcy on the dates you are reporting and there are blank fields making your information incomplete as well. The FTC has publicly stated that your public record information is often inaccurate, which is the case in what you are allowing on my credit report.  Delete this immediately!
  • Bankruptcy (Round 2): You are big, fat liars!  You claimed that you verified this and told me to contact the furnisher. You claim that the court furnished and verified the information. I did as instructed and they gave me a letter claiming that they neither furnished the information nor verified the information. They are the only ones qualified to make a verification regarding this alleged bankruptcy and they did not verify. You are allowing slander on my credit report.  See the attached letter from the court proving that you are allowing erroneous information on my credit report and are falsely claiming that it is verified. Your butts need to be sued if you do not remove this from my credit report. It is inaccurate, incomplete and NOT VERIFIED! Delete this immediately!
  • Tax Liens (Round 1):  I have NEVER had a valid tax lien. Further, according to my state statutes/the IRS (pick one), taxpayer information is confidential and not allowed to be on any taxpayer's credit report. (if you know your state statute, insert it in your dispute). You need to get this crap off my credit report immediately as it is inaccurate and damaging to me and may be actionable for statutory damages, actual damages, and punitive damages. Delete this NOW!
  • (Round 2): Please see the attached information from the county recorder which you claim furnished and verified this tax lien.  It proves you are huge liars. How do you get away with this stuff and how on earth do you sleep at night? You should be in jail for causing injury to consumers. This was neither furnished nor verified by the county recorder. Get your false information off of my credit report now!
  • Judgments: Even if you have had a judgment, you can demand that they verify it and since they are accusing, the burden of proof lies with them. If you have a default judgment, it is not a valid judgment, it is a "Void" judgment and carries with it the right to challenge it at any time. In order for a judgment to be valid, the case must have at the trial a plaintiff, a defendant, subject matter jurisdiction (which can be challenged at any time) and a competent witness (sworn affidavit by a witness with first-hand information that testifies and produces the accompanying documentation to back up the testimony).
  • (Round 1): I am not aware of any judgment against me for $XXXX. I do not believe you are furnishing accurate information and I need you to investigate this and provide the documented proof that your information is 100% correct. Otherwise, please delete this immediately.
  • (Round 1):  I do not have a valid judgment against me. You are allowing false information on my credit report. Delete this immediately.
  • (Round 2): I have proof that you have lied about verifying this bogus judgment. The only persons qualified to verify it is the court or me, and I can't verify it and they claim they didn't verify it. See the attached from from the court proving that you have lied and that this remains unverified. The FCRA requires that this be deleted until you get proof from the court exclusively that this is mine - which obviously it is not!  Delete your inaccurate, incomplete, and unverified information immediately!

Okay, this should provide you with a really good start to cleaning up your credit report.  I cannot guarantee that any or all of these disputes will work every time because you are relying on two other parties per account to obey the law. Unfortunately, creditors, collectors and credit reporting agencies have notorious reputations for ignoring the law and doing whatever they please.  I do hope that you will see more success using some of these disputes than you have been getting or that most people get using boiler plate disputes.

Please remember never, ever to admit anything to a credit bureau.  It is THEIR JOB to get the proof and it is the furnisher's job to provide you with the proof (which is why I dispute with both the bureaus and creditors/collectors). I never, ever advise sending proof of a paid tax lien, paid judgment, or bankruptcy paperwork to the CRA's. If you do, you are giving them what they need to keep these public record items on your credit report for a full 7 years after that event.

If you decide you don't want to do this on your own, I would love to assist you with your credit repair. Also, if you have trouble removing tax liens or judgments, paid or not, we have an escalated proprietary process that can help.  By law, we are not allowed to guarantee any results, however, we do have a 100% success rate removing them.  We would love to assist you with removing them if you would like us to.

Best wishes for your credit repair venture. You can be successful so don't believe the naysayers that claim ugly credit has to stay on your reports for 7 years or more. That's an ignorant statement and totally untrue. Whether it's accurate or not, the furnisher has the responsibility to prove it and the bureaus have a responsibility to maintain maximum accuracy.  If it can't be proven, a claim of accuracy should not be made by anyone.  Also, you may think it's accurate and you may think you owe monies, but I'm here to tell you that you that you have been deceived.  Your contracts with creditors were never truly valid and no 3rd party collector has a lawful claim against you.

Stand up for your rights.  Fight hard for your credit to be repaired. You are to be congratulated for taking the steps needed to get your life and credit back!


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41 comments:

  1. Hi fellas,
    Thank you so much for this wonderful article really!
    If someone want to learn how to fix your credit I think this is the right place for you.

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  2. Hi i would like to speak you on fixing my credit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure, I would be happy to talk with you. My email is futurefico@gmail.com and my phone number is 951-801-2828. I look forward to hearing from you.

      Delete
    2. Hi Love this blog!! Would you happen to have anything on late pays? I cant seem to find anything regarding them..
      Thank you!

      Delete
    3. Hi Bella,

      It depends what type of account the late pays are on and how old they are. If the account is open and you just have 1, you can dispute that you don't recall being late and that you've sent your payments timely so their accounting is inaccurate.

      If the account is open or closed and you have a lot of lates, you can dispute them as I don't recall ever being late and they have accepted every payment as timely pursuant to UCC 3502. This code says that if you were late, you are in dishonor, but from the moment they accepted your payment (cashed your check or posted payment to your account) then it is to be treated as never being in dishonor (never being late).

      I would send a letter to the original creditor as well and dispute the lates and quote that UCC 3502 to them. Everything is contract law. The bill they send you is an offer. Your payment to them by the date they say it is due is an acceptance of that offer. If you don't make the payment on time but you send it later, that is a counter offer. If they accept the payment, they accepted your counter offer. This is why UCC 3502 says if you were in dishonor because your "draft" wasn't timely, but then they consented to a late acceptance, you were never in dishonor. You are in dishonor if you are late. The language says you cannot be considered late (trying to say it in normal English so you can understand).

      Lates are hard to remove. Sometimes bureaus will just remove the history. If they are old, like over a year or two, we don't even bother with them for the most part.

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    4. Do you have a sample late payments letter that you do not mind sharing?

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    5. No, I don't share my actual letters. This blog is to help people write their own disputes. I try to give as much information to help people write their own letters. Those are the best to use because you are writing from your heart.

      Delete
  3. Hi Shannon,

    I wish I found this info first. Thank you for the info your giving all of us. I'm trying to help some of my family members with their credit report so they can get approve for a home loan and finally have something of their own. I'm having only little success. My questions are;

    1. Uncle has a tax lien from 2006(California) from ftb. Should he just talk to them to see if it's an error, make payment arrangements and pay, or go through E-demand payoff request during the home loan process?

    2. For collection items, am I fighting the collection agency on the grounds that they need to show proof I have a contract with THEM and I or am I fighting for validation that they need to show a contract WITH ME and ORIGINAL CREDITOR? I get confused as to what reason I'm supposed to used to fight with them about.

    3. Also, a rude lawyer from JustAnswers quoted FCRA/FDCPA laws that stated debt collectors are only obligated to send a letter of the name and address of my original creditor and that would be considered proper validation/verification. (which allows them to tell the CRA agency the debt is verified. Is that true?

    4. When I dispute with the credit bureau, will or can they advise me to dispute with my original creditor and not the collection agency?

    5. After I do round 1, round 2, (showing copied of return receipts, lack of validation, etc.) and the CRA's still won't remove the items do I send an intent to sue letter? What if they still don't remove the item and agree to go to court and call my bluff, then what?

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    1. Hi 310,
      #1. I believe in always disputing first to try to get it off the report. Then if you have to, I would negotiate a better deal or pay it through escrow. Paying is always a last result for me. By the way, there is a 10 year statute of limitations in CA for state tax liens. As long as they don't renew it for another 10 years, that thing should be out of his life soon so why pay them now?

      #2 First a bureau dispute stating you have no account or contract to business with them. If they claim verified, you dispute with the collection company. You want them to provide you with the contract with the OC and with them. You are fighting back because they have no contract with you and are not entitled to a dime or less.

      #3. The rude lawyer is clueless about validation vs. verification. He is going on the "verification" requirements. However, you have a right to demand "Validation." Validation is the documentation that supports the claim of verification, which according to Black's Law Dictionary must be sworn under oath.

      #4. When you dispute with the bureaus, anything they claim is verified will have their comments that if you still think there's a problem, contact the furnisher of the info.

      #5. I don't do ITS with the bureaus, only with the furnishers. If you give them a solid validation demand letter, they are not legally eligible to sue you. However, they break the law and do that crap all the time. I wouldn't worry about it until you are threatened with a lawsuit.

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  4. Hi Shannon, I recently had a BK7 discharge (nov 15) but have 15 or so accounts reporting IIB/$0. I also have a tax lien that I need to remove but the IIB accounts are preventing me from securing new credit to rebuild. I disputed 1 account across all 3 CRA's but only TU removed. I understand this process could be lengthy but all I have is time. I also understand removal of these accounts could affect my score (TU removal = 5 point drop) but at this point I would prefer to have a clean file so I could secure new lines of credit. Any recommendations what I could do to tackle all the accounts? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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    1. Hello there,

      It sounds like the accounts are mostly original creditors. I would suggest your dispute to the bureaus is that they need to be removed because they are violating a BK stay.

      If they verify, send the creditors a notice to Cease & Desist. You have nothing to lose by doing it since they can't sue you. Since these are mostly or maybe all OC's, make sure your C&D has the language of forbidding them to COMMUNICATE to you and furnishing and verifying with credit bureaus is a communication. So tell them they are to completely cease all communications with you in regards to the account as there no longer is an account since it was extinguished through the BK.

      This works plenty of times but not always. make sure you always communicate in writing through certified mail. You want that paper trail and proof they were sent and received your letters.

      Delete
  5. Hi Shannon,
    My name is Todd Pitts and my wife Amanda and I are looking to purchase a home sometime in the next 6 months. I want to use my VA loan benefits but they said that I need to have that judgement against my wife removed before we can do anything. I’m looking for some guidance on what steps should we take. The judgement was filed back in 2007. Any insight or information would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you

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    Replies
    1. Hi Todd,

      I just noticed your email. I will respond to you there.

      Delete
  6. Hi shannon I have a questions I hope you can help me with. I have a medical debt from 3 or 4 yrs ago that is being double reported,but not in the usual sense. On my transunion cr it's being reported by 1 company and on my experian report it's report by a different company and neither report to equifax.how do I go about figuring out who actually is holding the debt and the process of trying to get it removed. Thank u much for your time

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    1. Hi Jonathan,
      Start by disputing with the credit bureaus as both double reporting and have never contracted to do business with either one of them. You can also say that they are trying to collect on an account that was sold to someone else.

      What state are you in? I have a feeling that its a strong chance that this is outside the statute of limitations and you can nail them for that as well.

      When you get the response from the bureaus, it should have updated the furnisher name and contract address so you know who to send validation to. What I do though, is I send everyone the demand for validation so whoever claims to own it gets hit.

      Hope this helps. Email me if you need more clarity.

      Delete
  7. I thought haven’t read such distinctive material anywhere else on-line.
    foundation repair oklahoma city

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Mana. And I wish you success with your credit repair company. Hopefully what you learn here you can use for your clients and get good results as well.

      Delete
  8. My first time on this site. Information is very helpful, although I am hoping you are joking when you tell us to call them liars. That's funny, but really Shannon, my BK was dismissed less than 30 days after submission. I want to have it removed. You said to not send any documentation to the credit bureaus? But to just send an initial dispute letter to each? btw, can you post the contents of your BK letter here? Thank You! Emma

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  9. Hi Shannon, Thank you, I appreciate the real information that you are providing to desperadoes like myself. I have just begun this journey of cleaning up my credit. I have a chapter 13 that was dismissed within the first 60 days of recording. You said do not send any documents to the CBs? Also, please send me a copy of your letter or post the contents here for having a BK removed. Thank You so much. Emma

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    Replies
    1. Hi Emma,

      I am not joking when I said to call them liars. If someone lied smack in your face and you knew it, wouldn't you call them out on it?

      Bureaus claim that the courts furnished the bk information. That's a bold faced lie. Courts DO NOT furnish information to credit bureaus. When you dispute and it comes back verified, they make it look like the court is the one who verified and even tell you if you have a problem with it, contact the furnisher, and then they give you the court name and address. Another big, bold faced lie!

      Regarding removing bankruptcies, they are one of the hardest items to remove from credit reports. You can dispute them as what they are reporting is not yours because that information does not match any bankruptcy belonging to you. That is the truth. Information on credit reports is required to be 100% accurate. BK information that is reported on credit reports is not 100% accurate.

      Then, you have FCRA 603(o)(5)(A)(i) which says that you have to give your consent in writing prior to someone making a communication on your credit reports. No one asked your permission. There is no court order requiring the information to be on your credit report. You need to clearly tell them these things.

      If you send documents about your bk, you will be verifying it for them. Then, you have no chance or a very, very slim chance, of getting it removed.

      I do not give people copies of my actual letters. I give you samples of what to say when you are disputing, in the post above. You can use those or write something similar that you feel is better.

      Courts look at dismissed bankruptcies as if they never occurred. If your bk is dismissed, you can turn around and file another one. If the courts treated dismissals as actual BK's, you wouldn't be able to refile for years. You can use that against them. Dismissed bk's are not bk's in the courts' eyes.

      Again, please use the information I gave above in the post/article. It will guide you with your dispute. Never admit anything to a credit bureau. It's their job to prove it. They have a responsibility to reasonably investigate (which they do not do, at least that is what the courts say).

      Get familiar with the FCRA. Use the laws against them. They are violating; they know it; you are more likely to have success when you use them.

      If you would like a copy of the court clerk letter and FTC staff opinion letter to use along with your disputes to the bureaus, please email me directly and I will email them to you. The FTC letter clearly states that the CRA's are allowing erroneous public record information on consumers' credit reports. The letter is a number of years back but the thing is, things have gotten worse, not better. Credit reports are riddled with tons of errors, including tons of public record errors. In almost 30 years of doing credit repair, I have NEVER seen 1 report with no errors, and that's including great looking reports with no derogatory information.

      This is how you fight back. They have to correct or remove the information. Since they don't correct public record information (at least not that I've seen),they have to remove it. Information has to be verified by someone with first hand knowledge (Black's Law Dictionary) and they can't do that so it must be deleted.

      Good luck to you!

      Delete
  10. Hi Shannon,
    I wish I had found your site sooner-- so helpful and informative. I fear I have done everything wrong in my case, but am wondering what you think..
    My husband and I are trying to refinance our home, but had a medical bill from about a year ago that went into collections...not having any experience with this before, I paid the collections agency, not realizing that wasn't going to make it go away. So it's now on my husband's credit report as paid in full...but the damage is obviously still there. Is there realistically anything I can do at this point to get it deleted?

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    1. Hi Tiffani,

      If it hasn't affected his score by being paid, which usually it still does, but sometimes not much as it depends on several things, one including the amount, then the way I usually go after them is with a Cease & Desist letter.

      I tell them that I have never had a contract with them and have never given them consent to be on the report as required under FCRA 603(o)(5)(A)(iii) so they need to get their information off of my report and get out of my life.

      It works most of the time.

      Delete
  11. I have become more and more serious about credit repair after reading and following this blog. I've been helping my uncle repair his credit.

    I looked at his credit report on credit karma and it showed 9 collection accounts have been removed as of 8/29/16 all from the same collection agency for medical bills. I hadn't disputed those items (they were actually next on my dispute list.)

    I wonder, why did they remove them. Every since I've been repairing his credit. I notice other collection companies delete items from his credit report even though these items haven't been paid, disputed, nor has it been 7 years. Has this happened to anyone else? Shannon do you think this is some kind of debt transfer or trick?

    Credit Karma has updated their website to now show when collection accounts have been removed but I'm shocked for some reason about all this.

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    1. Hi 310atkins,

      I'm glad you're finding this blog helpful. As far as the collections being deleted, I have no for sure answer for why that happened. Most likely the alleged original debt was older than what it appeared on your credit reports and so they were removed by the bureaus because of the age. That is a realistic reason why it may have happened but it's just a guess. Who knows why really but just be glad they are gone!

      Delete
    2. Hi 310atkins,

      I don't think it's some kind of transfer or trick. I responded to your same question on the other post regarding 3rd party collections.

      Here's what I said:

      "I have no for sure answer for why that happened. Most likely the alleged original debt was older than what it appeared on your credit reports and so they were removed by the bureaus because of the age. That is a realistic reason why it may have happened but it's just a guess. Who knows why really but just be glad they are gone!"

      Delete
  12. I hope everyone like this information they shared as I do. Really great information.
    boiler repair

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  13. Hi Shannon! I sent you an email regarding assistance with credit repair. I would love to talk with you about what that entails. I've only recently became interested and concerned about my credit after nearly a decade of pretending it didn't exist. Problem is every time I look at all my collections and bad accounts I feel so overwhelmed and I don't know where to start especially with so much conflicting info out there..I'm not even sure what to look for regarding errors since some of my collections are from back in 2010 and 2011. Any help at all would be amazing.

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    1. Hi Paula,

      I received your email and responded to it. I understand how you feel and believe me, you are not alone. There are way more people with "less than perfect" credit than good credit. Its frustrating and feels like it will take forever to reach the credit goals you desire.

      But, don't believe the blogs and so called experts that say if you owe it you have to pay it and that time is all that will help, or that you can't remove "bad credit" that belongs to you. That's HOGWASH!! I know this for a fact and have proved it for nearly 30 years.

      I'm saying this not just for your benefit but for everyone else who is reading this and needs help with their credit. Don't lose hope. I try to tell the truth about credit and credit repair and what is really possible, not just false propaganda and bs put out by the bureaus, creditors/collectors, establishment, and dumb bloggers and internet website writers who don't know diddly and just repeat the nonsense.

      Hang in there, fight back, keep fighting back and don't give up. I know you will see results you are looking for if you hit them back with the right ammo and keep it up until you wear them out.

      Delete
  14. Do you have a template for the dispute letters?

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    1. Hi Liz,

      No I don't and you don't need a template. Just start your letter off with;

      Dear sirs, (or whatever salutation you want to use)

      I've reviewed my report and found the following inaccurate info on it. You are required to maintain MAXIMUM Accuracy and yet you have failed. FCRA 611(a)(5)(A) requires that you either correct or PROMPTLY delete information that is inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable. The following items need an investigation and then deletion as they are either inaccurate, incomplete or unverified, or all 3.

      Then use the information in the article above to dispute the items that are inaccurate, incomplete, or unverified.

      It's as simple as that. Just remember don't admit to anything. Never admit to having a public record or collection account. Practice wording your disputes, and I give good examples in this post, on saying your disputes without even inadvertently admitting something. They will use that to claim it's been verified.

      Delete
  15. Hello,
    I have a question about charge offs from a bank/original credit card company. I have two that are paid to $0, and one that has a balance. All accounts are charged off. What is the best way to have these removed? I know if I send a letter for them to validate, they can easily do that. Is there something else I can try? I have removed almost all collections off my reports, but these charge offs are still there. :( Any help would be appreciated!

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    1. Hi collinsmom,

      I'm of the belief that it's better to leave charge offs alone if they have a $0 balance. We have seen over and over again with our clients that want those things off, that when we get them removed, their scores almost always drop.

      As far as removing charge offs that still have a balance, keep disputing different errors or possible errors with the credit bureaus, and disputes with the creditor, well, deny that they have proven that you owe the debt.

      Unless they can prove they are the owner and holder in due course, they have no standing. Unless they can prove they actually lent you money not from their assets or their depositors' assets and they didn't lend credit, then they don't have a claim.

      There are a host of other things that prove they are not the actual creditor and that they have no claim so you can hit them with one thing after another till they get sick of you and either change the balance to $0 or delete the trade line.

      Delete
  16. Sure Adelle, there are legit companies across the entire country. In fact, my partner and I are a legit company and we've been doing credit repair for a combined 50 years in January 2017. That will be my 30th anniversary in credit repair.

    I've also taught credit repair companies how to do credit repair, what to write, what to say, the order of doing it, how to respond, laws to use and much more. I've also been on national radio shows doing guest spots and guest hosting and answering questions about credit repair and just doing more teaching.

    I could go on and on about how knowledgeable and legitimate I and my partner are. But....

    I'm not sure you really wanted to know that because you tried to spam my blog with a link to some hinky credit repair page. You should have read the disclosure before you commented though. I warn people that I disable the clickable links to prevent spam.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hey Shannon,

    I pray all is well with you. Do you still do credit repair classes? If so, how can I get info about attending? I've gotten all the negatives removed from my own credit report mostly by following your advice. However, there is so much more I need to learn and what better teacher than the one who was most influential/helpful in my success? Please let me know. Thanx.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Chic,

      Congratulations on your success. I'm not doing any credit repair classes right now but my partner and I are discussing putting together a training seminar regarding collections this coming year.

      We've been very busy but once we have everything ready to go I will post the details.

      Delete
  18. Hi Shannon I am trying to get my old addresses removed from my credit report and so far jusr transunion deleted it. Do you know what is needed in my letter to get them to remove them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Seneitra,

      i have my clients write a letter that says:
      My name is _______________
      My address is ________________

      The following address are on my report and they are not mine. I do not live an any of these places and I don't recognize them. Please remove them as they are not accurate and you are required to maintain maximum accuracy.
      ___________________
      ___________________

      Just list the addresses that you want removed. Then take it to a notary and sign in front of them and get it notarized. Do not sign under penalty of perjury. You don't need to do that.

      Then make copies of that notarized letter and attach it to your bureau disputes that say basically the same thing except that the bureau dispute has the bureau address and your ss# on it as well.

      This has yielded good results for us.

      Delete
  19. Replies
    1. Hi Russell,

      They will not remove any inquiries that are connected to any open accounts. To avoid their nonsense of telling you to contact the company that pulled the inquiry, the best way and probably the quickest way is to call up the bureau and be adamant that you have never requested the companies to pull your credit and you haven't applied for anything with whichever ones you want removed.

      They will ask you questions and try to trick you into admitting you applied for something. Don't fall for it. Tell them that as far as you can tell, your information has been used without your authorization and you need these off.

      It may take some time on the phone but be firm, don't back down and you should see them removed quickly, usually while you are on the phone with them.

      If you get someone that is just a bully and won't remove them, you'll need to call back and try to get someone else.

      This has worked for everyone that I have told to do it - as far as I know. I usually hear back that they got all the inquiries removed.

      Delete
  20. Hello Shannon,
    The information you provide is priceless. I have been able to remove a few collections and am working on a tax lien. Experience removed it with no problem, transunion and equifax won't budge. Equifax sent me verification done with lexisnexis any idea as to how to proceed to get it off?
    Thank you- Rossy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rosy,

      Make sure you remove the address tied to the tax lien from your credit reports and also make sure that you inform any creditors you WANT to stay on your report of your correct address.

      If you're still living at that address, you need to get a PO Box, preferably one that looks like an address, get an ID card with that address, send a utility bill to that address so you have proof of your new address.

      Then when you dispute again, remind them that L/N is not qualified to make a verification. Use the FTC staff opinion letter to prove they have erroneous information on consumers' credit reports, Give them the definition of Verification from Black's Law Dictionary, and demand that they prove its a valid tax lien by providing you with a certified copy of the required Abstract of Judgment or Writ of Distraint, and prove that the Sec. of Treasury filed it against you as those are part of the required items according to statute that must be in place.

      Or if you need someone to help you with it, we have an escalated process that has removed them 100% of the time so far.

      Delete

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