By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-10-28 18:43:18 | Word Count: 664
Dispute letters to creditors are all part of the process of getting your good credit name back if you’ve gotten into a little trouble over the years. It all starts with copies of your credit reports, which you can then check for errors. These errors can be disputed with credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian and Equifax) with a dispute letter (although Experian prefers you conduct the dispute process online). Errors on your credit report might include such items as charges that are over seven years of age. The law requires that these items be removed after that period of time; bankruptcies however, take ten years to come off.
Other disputable items could be charges that were never authorized by you, or charges that were made by credit card companies without your knowledge, such as an annual fee or finance charge that you never signed off on. Another common error is when you have paid something off and it doesn’t show on your report as closed, or you have made payments that were missed and erroneously reported to credit reporting agencies as unpaid.
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Once you have narrowed down the errors, you will need to prepare dispute letters to your creditors. You can use letters from templates such as those provided by CreditElves.com, and customize them to suit your situation. Included in these letters will be your Social Security Number, account number, a copy of the credit report that contains the pertinent error (with the error highlighted), and any supporting documentation you might be able to provide to prove that the disputed item is indeed incorrect.
After the credit reporting agency receives your dispute letter and documentation, they have thirty days in which to issue a written decision, either agreeing with you, asking for more documentation, or denying the claim altogether. If you are denied, you may choose to find more documentation to support your dispute, or write another letter restating your stance on the issue. They then have another thirty days to decide on the status of your dispute. If they find in your favor, request another free copy of your credit reports (from all three agencies) and make sure the items have indeed been removed from your record, or marked satisfactorily as “closed” or “paid.” If they have not, you will need to follow up with yet another letter demanding that they do so. Make sure that all three credit-reporting agencies and the original creditor have marked the disputed item correctly; they occasionally do not share information, or abide by the rules, as they should.
It can seem like an unending process of letters, follow-up, paperwork, and more follow-ups. But in the end, it seems like sending dispute letters to creditors is a small price to pay for a clean credit report and all that it can open up for you financially. What seemed unattainable before, such as a house or a car, might come within your reach if you take proactive steps to clean up your credit.
