What to do after your dispute comes back verified

[Hal Jordan]

You file a dispute online, telephone or through the mail. An employee at the credit bureau assigns a two digit code to your dispute. (Everything you wrote in your fancy letter never makes it to the OC.. it just gets broken down to a 2 digit code). That two digit code is then sent to the Creditor/Collection agency electronically.. Example.. John Smith XXX-XX-1234 disputes account number 123456 by your agency for 87 (87 = never late, 23 = not mine, 12 = inaccurate balance...etc)

The OC/CA is then supposed to verify that the information is either accurate or not accurate and responds with a "verified as accurate", "not accurate please delete" or "inaccurate dates/amounts here is corrected information" along with the employee's name and contact information.

There's a little more to it but that's pretty much it in a nut shell.

If the Credit Bureau does not receive a response within 30 days (for paid credit report, 45 days for a free credit report). They are supposed to delete the disputed tradeline entirely from your report. If they do receive a response and if it comes back as accurate they send you a verified letter/email saying as much. If it comes back "updated" they send you a free copy of an updated credit report showing the changes. If it comes back as inaccurate they send you a "deleted" notice and provide you with a free updated copy of your credit report showing this.

The FDCPA does not require more than this for the bureaus to validate a debt.

Now.. here is your recourse when a CRA won't do it's job by investigating and correcting or deleting inaccurate info, MOV (Method of Verification) is the next step available to you.

With MOV, you might have to actually sue the CRA, or at least threaten it. They don't seem to freely comply with this area of the law. FCRA § 611(a)(6) and (7). 15 USC 1681i
US Code


With a copy of the investigation results in hand (either mailed copy of the investigation report or printed copy of your online investigation report), call the CRA. Give them the reference number and ask them for the method of verification under FCRA Section 611(a). They might play dumb. I once had a lady from Transunion tell me they don't have to do anything more once the OC/CA verifies the item as legit.

Paper copies of EX and EQ contain a statement of your rights for MOV (in most states that is. Some have exceptions) This statement is from Experian "The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act states that you may request a description of how we verified the information, including the business name and address contacted and the telephone number if reasonably available"

Like I said eariler.. Typically the request for validation is broken down to a 2 digit code. There is a good chance the verifying CA/OC never included any information like name or telephone number to them when they verified. Sometimes, items like judgements or bankruptcies they use some 3rd party agency to verify the information. They may or may not admit this to you. Ask for the name, address and phone number of anyone contacted.

After requesting this from the Bureaus, Call the OC/CA and ask them about their records. If the person you speak with at the OC cannot doesn't have any records to support the inaccurate reporting, get their name and direct line. You might have to ask for a supervisor and get their name. May collection agencies have employees who are "ghosts" known only by a first name or a fake name. If they claim to have records, demand a copy of them under FACTA.

If you are sent records, review them and see whether they support the CRA's reporting. If they don't support the inaccurate reporting, call the CRA and tell them the OC has no records to support their reporting. Tell the CRA you want a new dispute. The new info for the dispute is the name and number of the person at the OC with whom you spoke.

If they refuse to open a dispute, tell them you will sue for willful non-compliance under FCRA § 616. Get their name and employee number or speak with a supervisor. If they still refuse, send the information via CMRRR along with an ITS letter.

If they open a dispute over the phone, get the new confirmation number. Make sure and write down the confirmation number, the time & date of your call, and the name of the rep at the CRA with whom you spoke. They might also be a "ghost" and you might have to ask for a supervisor to get a name.

Once the investigation is complete, if the inaccurate info remains, then send an ITS letter to the CRA. (Each CRA has their own legal department you will have to mail the ITS letter to) Give 'em 10 days, then either file suit yourself in small claims or contact a consumer lawyer and see about filing in federal court. naca.net or myfaircredit.com are two good sources of consumer lawyers for debt and credit issues.

Typically once they receive their summons in the mail they become very compliant and will delete the inaccurate information. If not. they can pay you for the FDCPA violation and they can get a court order from the judge to be ordered to remove the inaccurate information. Very rarely does it go that far.

Most of the time people do not know their rights or they simply fail to act on them out of apathy, indifference or fear they are getting in over their heads. The process sounds much more daunting than it really is. Always stand up for yourself..

[Lian]

They way to avoid CRA ineptitude in the dispute process is to entirely avoid using the CRA for your dispute resolution in the first place.

The direct dispute process under FCRA 623(a)(8) assures that all your supporting documentation and facts are received directly by the party who reported the disputed information.

I would cut the CRA out of the process. They are nothing but a middle-man, and really have no place in the process to begin with.

Filing a dispute first with the CRA can, in fact, bring harm, as it will thereafter permit a direct dispute to be dismissed without investigation as being duplicate of an earlier resolved dispute.

I highly suggest NOT using the CRA dispute process whenever the direct dispute process is available.

[J.A.]

If a collection agency has the account send a validation letter to them. Even though the C.A. legally has no time span to respond to you, it gives you information to dispute with the C.B.'s when they respond to you with "the information is accurate".

When you contact the C.B.'s you can show that the C.A. received your letter and never responded. Make sure you send all letters certified so you can show evidence. Once you show this information to the C.B.'s they 9 times out 10 will delete the information. They really don't want trouble.

[Hal Jordan]

Originally Posted by Lian

They way to avoid CRA ineptitude in the dispute process is to entirely avoid using the CRA for your dispute resolution in the first place.

The direct dispute process under FCRA 623(a)(8) assures that all your supporting documentation and facts are received directly by the party who reported the disputed information.

I would cut the CRA out of the process. They are nothing but a middle-man, and really have no place in the process to begin with.

Filing a dispute first with the CRA can, in fact, bring harm, as it will thereafter permit a direct dispute to be dismissed without investigation as being duplicate of an earlier resolved dispute.

I highly suggest NOT using the CRA dispute process whenever the direct dispute process is available.

Ok.. Here's the area where we disagree.. And I think it's a big area for the purposes that people visit this site and others like it.

The advice you offer is based off of getting rid of INACCURATE negative information. The advice I offer is based off of just getting rid of negative information.

Let's call a spade a spade and not dance around this... Most of the people who come to this site wanting to clean up their credit reports have ACCURATE negative information on those reports. They came here wanting to find a way to get rid of that negative information... Like say that charge off that's being accurately reported to their credit reports... They want to find a way to get rid of the collection agency who has an accurate and legal right to report their debt to all the bureaus.

I don't know if you're a lawyer.. I assume that you are either a lawyer or a paralegal by how much legalize you use in your speech and your strong grasp of law interpretation so I know it's unethical for you to try and give people advice on how to remove accurate information.. But because of this I think you lead a lot of people away from techniques that can work for them.

Is it immoral for us to give techniques and tactics on how to remove legitimate information from our credit reports filing disputes on items we know are accurate? Probably, but since we're being honest and calling a spade a spade here and actually discussing what it is we're really trying to do here.. I don't think it matters one bit. And quite frankly, I don't care.

People are looking for techniques to improve their poor credit score.. (for whatever reason).. So I think they should know about all the methods out there that could help them.. those both by Hook or by crook.

And lastly, I think it's important to note that about 90% (IMO) just want the negative information off of their reports to raise their FICO scores to get credit for whatever reason... buying a home, a car, student loans.. whatever

And the advice that I offer and that I have been offering is not intended to be full of morality or ethics.. It's intended to help people remove negative information from their reports even though it's supposed to be there. Again, I'm just calling a spade a spade here... And if that makes me unethical... so be it. The methods outlined on this site work. I'm proof.

I mean, the entire filing disputes with the bureaus despite their "accuracy" keeps million dollar businesses like Lexington law and Skyblue profitable.. and right now, they're busier than ever... So filing direct disputes with the credit bureaus does work. Quite frankly, It works well for lots of people.

P.S. I do want to say that I think you're a good man.. And a smart man (smarter than me for sure). We just take two different approaches to helping people improve their credit.. Perhaps, I'm even the bad guy.. not that it really matters in the big scheme of things.

[Lian]

Certainly, if one wishes to dispute accurate information, they may choose to do so. The dispute processes under both FCRA 611(a) and 623(a)(8) both are directed specifically at "the completeness or accuracy of any item of information contained in a consumer's file."

My only intent is to point out the process as set forth in the statute and regulations, along with problems inherent in making such disputes. I don't advise on whether or not to dispute. I don't believe that it is misleading or unhelpful to make consumers aware of the process, and possible impacts of making disputes that lack any contention of inaccuracy.

What one chooses to do based on that information is a personal decision. I think your comments are very well taken, I don't take any issue with anyone stating their opinion. It is helpful to hear both sides of the issue.