Hi.
Like a whole lot of you out there my credit was a mess.
Late-pays, collections, charge-offs, judgments, you name it.
I decided to go to a "credit expert", however, I'm sure just like a lot of you again, I got robbed.
So I decided to do something and learn everything I could get my hands on the subject.
I ended up fixing my credit after much frustration and effort as well as helping others.
After weeding out all the junk from what was actually useful here are my truthful thoughts on what I believe are the current best methods for deletion.
First you must take the action to fix your credit on your own and not rely on someone else.
It will not only be done right...
but faster.
So go get your standardized reports (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) not those tri-merge mortgage reports or from those credit monitoring sites.
Go to Annualcreditreport.
com.
You're allowed one free report a year (check your state laws).
You don't get your score but you do get the same credit history that the banks and mtg lenders see.
After making a copy of all three reports, look for any inconsistencies.
Examples would be seeing wrong dates opened or closed, dates of last activities, account balances, etc.
Note: The date of last activity is the last recorded activity you did anything on the account.
The credit bureaus sometimes interchange this with the date of first delinquency.
Anyways, start disputing on factual errors and not simply saying 'this account is not mine'.
If you just say it's not your account (unless if it really isn't) all the credit bureaus have to do is match up your name, address, ss#, account number and verify the account.
You've just wasted a shot with one of the bigger bureaus Experian.
Remember Experian is now making it even harder to start a redispute so make it count.
If an account is old, in collections for a long time, check with the original creditor to see if there are any records.
These are usually the easiest to delete because current records are no longer kept.
Keep in mind if the creditor does not have any records of your account than how can they verify information being reported as accurate as they are required to do so by the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act).
Can you say VIOLATION? From experience don't bother disputing any government/federal accounts like Sallie Mae Student loans with the credit bureaus.
It will most likely get verified.
Fight it with the original creditors.
Concentrate on hitting the most recent negative accounts being reported every month as these items are the ones really lowering your score.
Remember, base all your disputes on factual information.
You can always find something wrong.
If you totally can't then get a little creative.
You are more likely to get deletion on the first try and have more leverage to pursue actions against them based on violations.
Another thing to remember is that the majority of all the credit bureaus do not retain accurate information nor do the creditors.
This gives them a reason to charge you higher percentage rates since your credit is bad.
Another point is to not copy your letter disputes word for word from one of those credit repair courses.
This will get your letter ignored and deemed frivolous.
If you go the letter route and example would be simply: 'Dear "Credit Bureau", Please delete (account name and number) because there are multiple inaccuracies.
Thank you'.
Short and simple.