The process is simple, but if you are out there on the net trying to figure it out, you are reading myriads stuff from different sources and it is tough to know who to believe. As a mortgage professional who has assisted many people improve their credit with letters written to the credit reporting agencies I can give you the facts from my experience. These are things that I have personally witnessed work.
Dispute anything on your report that you are not sure is 100% correct! (it is up to the creditor to verify what they are reporting is correct. Even if the account shows a zero balance, but the creditor is still giving the account a negative rating, you have the right to dispute it. How could an account with a zero balance be delinquent?? It can no longer be delinquent, but I cannot tell you how many times I have seen collections with zero balances show up with a rating of 9, i.e. they are being reported as a delinquent account!)
Make sure you request your free credit report first before you send in your dispute letters. If you were applying for a loan, and got turned down, you should have gotten a ‘denial letter’. Use this letter to get your free report. Once you have gotten your free report use it the create your dispute letters. Then send in the letters. If the lender who denied you will give you a copy of the report they have on you, use it to create your dispute letters, but first send out the request for your free reports before you send in your dispute letters.
Include an ID page with every letter!! This is huge. You must do this or the credit bureaus will not know that it is definitely you sending the letters! If you don’t do this, you are wasting your time. What is the ID page? Copy of your Driver’s license with your correct address, copy of your social security card, copy of a utility bill in your name at your correct current address. If you are missing the utility bill, you can use a pay stub, W2, vehicle registration. These things must have your correct address. Everything must match up.
I have been solicited by credit repair companies who want me to refer people to them and all these companies do is write the letters and give you all the info I have listed above. They create the letters, Charge you $25 per item that you want to dispute and send you the letters to mail out! If you have 10, 20, 30 things to dispute, you can see how that will add up. Other companies want you to pay them a $20 set up fee and then $89/mo for 3 months. Others will charge you a flat fee of $800 if you are single. If you are married, then they will “save” you some money by only charging $400 for your spouse! You can do what they do on your own. You just have to write the letters and send them out. It is a little time consuming, but worth the savings!
No comments:
Post a Comment