HOW TO REPAIR YOUR CREDIT REPORT

©Eunice R Russell 2021

HOW TO REPAIR YOUR CREDIT LEGALLY

BY: EUNICE R RUSSELL

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 3 CHAPTER ONE 6 OBTAINING YOUR CREDIT REPORT CHAPTER TWO 8 HOW TO READ YOUR CREDIT REPORT CHAPTER THREE 11 CHALLENGING ITEMS ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT CHAPTER FOUR 14 PRIORITIZING YOUR DEBT CHAPTER FIVE 15 CREATING A BUDGET YOU CAN LIVE BY CHAPTER SIX 16 SUMMARY OF YOUR CONSUMER CREDIT REPORT SAMPLE LETTERS AUTHORIZATION LETTER 19 DISPUTE LETTER 20 REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF CREDIT LETTER 22 IMPORTANT ADDRESSES 23 SAMPLE 100 WORD STATEMENT 24


INTRODUCTION Credit plays a major role in everything that we do in the United States. Without our credit it is difficult to function. The problem is we are given credit when we are very young without the benefit of knowing its importance or how to properly use it. If you are not aware of the importance of your credit history you won’t take the proper safe guards to protect it. The majority of the information in your credit report is obtained from companies you have credit with, such as banks, department stores, finance companies, etc. Some information, such as bankruptcies, judgments, lawsuits and tax liens come from public records supplied by the various court systems and public records. There are three major Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs) in the United States and they are TransUnion, Experian and Equifax also known as “The Big Three”. The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the accompanying state laws govern credit-reporting agencies. The state law referred to in this book is California law. FCRA was designed to promote accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of every CRA. The information regarding your credit is supplied by creditors, public records and others that you’ve done business with, to the CRA’s. The CRA’s are credit bureaus that gather, organize and store information about how you the consumer spend your money and pay your debts. They supply this information to creditors, employers, landlords, insurers and other businesses. The FCRA give suppliers and users of credit information, and CRA’s, specific responsibilities in connection with their respective roles in the credit granting and reporting process. The

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FCRA also provides specific rights in dealing with these entities. You can find the complete text of the FCRA at 15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq., at the Federal Trade Commission’s website Fair Credit Reporting Act. You may have additional rights under the FCRA and can contact a state or local consumer protection agency or a state attorney general to learn those rights. In accordance with the law accurate negative information such as late payments or collection accounts can remain on your credit report for seven years. Bankruptcies on the other hand can remain on your credit for up to ten years. Positive information can remain on your report indefinitely. You have a right to dispute inaccurate information by contacting the consumer credit reporting agency directly. However, neither you nor any credit repair company or credit service organization has the right to have accurate and verifiable information removed from your credit report. Under the FCRA the consumer credit reporting agency must remove accurate negative information from your report only if it is over seven years old. Bankruptcy information must be removed after ten (10) years. If you dispute the accuracy of the information in your file you must notify the credit-reporting agency in writing and they have thirty (30) business days to reinvestigate and modify or remove the information. The CRA may not charge a fee for this service. Any pertinent information and supporting documentation concerning the alleged error should be given to the CRA. If reinvestigation does not resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you may send a brief statement (100 words or less) to the CRA to place in your file explaining


why you think the record is inaccurate. The CRA must include your statement about disputed information in any report it issues about you.

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CHAPTER ONE OBTAINING YOUR CREDIT REPORT In California you have a right to obtain a copy of your credit file from a CRA in person, by mail, over the telephone or over the Internet. You may be charged a fee. If you have been denied credit, employment, insurance or a rental dwelling because of information in your credit report within 60 days preceding your request you may obtain your credit report at no cost from the company that supplied the negative information, otherwise, you will be charge a fee. If you are requesting a report on both you and your spouse, the charge is per person. The CRA may require a copy of the denial letter if you are trying to obtain a free report based upon denial of credit. To obtain your annual free credit report from “The Big Three” Credit Reporting Agencies online go to http:/www.annualcreditreport.com. To obtain a copy of your credit report by mail from “The Big Three” CRA’s complete the form marked “Request By Mail” and mail to: ANNUAL CREDIT REPORT POST OFFICE BOX 105281 ATLANTA, GA. 30348-5281 It takes 2 to 3 weeks to receive your credit report by mail. The Internet addresses for the CRA’s http://www.transunion.com http://www.experian.com http://www.equifax.com


To order a credit report by telephone: TRANSUNION 1-877-322-8228 EXPERIAN 1-888-397-3742 EQUIFAX 1-800-685-1111

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CHAPTER TWO HOW TO READ YOUR CREDIT REPORT All creditors do not use all three reporting agencies so therefore some information may be listed on one report but not on the others. Sometimes the information such as amounts owed or due may vary from one report to another. It is for this reason when you are considering legal proceedings such as bankruptcy you should get copies of your credit report from all three reporting agencies and compare the information. If you don’t understand your report the CRA must provide you with someone to help you interpret the information in your credit file. Most agencies will not talk to you about your file in public (at the window) so you may have to make an appointment to go into the local office and have someone to sit down with you in private and explain your file. The following sections are included in most credit reports: CREDIT HISTORY Your Credit History is a record of how you have paid your bills and handled your financial obligations. Most of this information is reported to the various agencies by your creditors however, some data, such as, court judgments and bankruptcies are obtained from public records. Some accounts may list your payment history for up to seven (7) years proceeding, the balance date. The type of information usually reported is the amount of your balance, if any, and whether your balances are current or past due. If past due they track how late your


accounts are in 30-day increments (i.e. 30, 60, 90, 120 days late). The number of months an account is reviewed is normally based on the date the account was first opened or was first reported to the CRA. USE OF CREDIT Some agencies provide additional detailed information about your accounts such as providing up to 24 months of balance history and your credit limit or original loan amounts. INQUIRIES This section shows who has looked at the information in your credit report during the past 2 years. These inquires stay on your report for 3 years. Most credit scores are calculated using only inquiries from the last 12 months. If you are shopping for a loan too many inquiries will lower your credit score, so when you are shopping a loan all inquiries made within a 2 week period to loan companies will be viewed as a single inquiry. IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION This section contains additional information supplied to the CRA’s by organizations that have done business with you such as: Social Security Numbers – if a variation of your social security number were reported to the credit reporting agency, they will list the number in this section along with the number of times they were reported. Addresses – Your present and previous addresses will be listed along with the number of times they were

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reported. Some agencies also list a geographical code, which represents the State, census tract, block group, county number, and Metropolitan Statistical Area associated with your address. Some reports may also state whether you own or rent your home. Verifying Information – This is information you provided to a creditor. This information includes but is not limited to your home telephone number, business telephone number and your Driver’s License. Other – If any variation of your name, date of birth or your spouse’s name is reported to the credit reporting agency they would appear in this section. COLLECTION ACCOUNTS This is an account that has been turned over to collection agency by one of your creditors because you did not pay the account as agreed. If you believe any of this information is incorrect you may file a dispute. PUBLIC RECORDS Public Record information includes bankruptcies, liens, or judgments and comes from Federal, State or County Records. If you believe any of this information is incorrect you may file a dispute.


CHAPTER THREE CHALLENGING ITEMS ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT You may challenge any item on your credit report. The credit reporting agencies have thirty days to investigate and get back to you with their findings. Each reporting agency has a duty to investigate your dispute at no cost. All CRA’s require a written request to investigate disputed information. You may submit supporting documents such as court papers, list of creditors from your bankruptcy or any other pertinent information you may have to assist in resolving the dispute. However, the Credit Reporting Agencies cannot accept supporting evidence such as cancelled checks as proof of payment without further verification from the creditor or act in the place of a court of law in determining legal issues such as questions of law or fact. All investigation will be concluded within 30 days from the date received and a revised report, reflecting the results of the investigation, will be sent to you within 5 business days from the conclusion of the investigation. Should they be unable to resolve your dispute in the 30 days, or if the disputed information is found to be incorrect, they will send you a revised report indicating that the disputed information has been corrected. If adverse information has been deleted from your file because it could not be verified and it is later found to be accurate you should receive written notice within 5 business days informing you that it has been reinserted into your file.

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If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation and/or the changes made to your credit report, you have the right to add a consumer statement of 100 words or less to your credit report. FILING A DISPUTE If you believe that any of the information found in your file is incorrect you may start an investigation either online, by mail or by telephone. In order to begin any investigation, you will need your confirmation number from the report you are disputing. In order to dispute or change your name or date of birth, you will need to send a copy of your current Driver’s License or State issued Identification Card reflecting the change you are attempting to make. To dispute or change your current address you must send a copy of your current Driver’s License or a current utility bill showing your name and the new address. If you wish to dispute your Social Security Number you must send a copy of your Social Security card or W-2 form. To file a dispute by mail download the Dispute By Mail form at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/requestformfinal.pdf complete form and send the Dispute Form to: TransUnion Post Office Box 2000 Chester, PA. 19022-2000 Experian Use the address on the credit report you are disputing Equifax Information Services, LLC Post Office Box 740256 Atlanta, FA. 30374


No Confirmation Number is required on written correspondence You can also obtain a copy of a sample dispute letter from the Federal Trade Commission. Experian online instructions to dispute your credit report by mail can be found here. Equifax online instructions to dispute your credit report by mail can be found here. TransUnion online instructions to dispute your credit report by mail can be found here.

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CHAPTER FOUR PRIORITIZING YOUR DEBTS Once you determine exactly what you owe and who you owe it to you are ready to prioritize your debts. Simply put you are going to determine which debts are the most important to you, which, if any are past due which credits cards have the highest balance vs. the highest interest rate. All these factors play an important role in getting out of debt. When you carry four or five credit cards and one card may only charge 12% interest while the others charge between 18% and 26% it’s important to know so that you don’t use the cards with the higher interest in your daily activities. Sometimes we get caught in a cycle where we utilize our credit cards in place of cash when we fall short during the month. If this is your predicament you should be aware of the interest charges and increases in your interest rates that may be applicable to your increasing balance. In other words, sometimes as your balance increases so does your credit card’s interest rate.


CHAPTER FIVE CREATING A BUDGET YOU CAN LIVE BY Once you have prioritized your debts and made a budget you can live by utilizing your income and expense statement. An income statement includes all the money you bring in every month and an expense statement is a list of all the money you spend every month. With this information you now have a clear and concise picture of your financial life. Now it’s time to make arrangements on those past due items. The key to making payment arrangements is never promise to pay and you know you can’t keep to the payment plan. If you look hard enough you can find plenty of extra money in your budget. You will discover this fact when you complete an income and expense statement.

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CHAPTER SIX SUMMARY OF YOUR CONSUMER CREDIT RIGHTS 1. You must be told if information in your file has been used against you. Anyone who obtains information from a CRA to take action against you, such as denying credit, employment or a job, must tell you, and give you the name, address and telephone number of the CRA that provided the consumer report. 2. You can find out what is in your file. At your request, a CRA must give you the information in your credit and a list of everyone who accessed your file recently. There is no charge for the report if a person has taken action against you because of information supplied by the CRA, if you request the report within 60 days of receiving notice of the action. You also are entitled to one free report every twelve months upon request if you certify that (1) you are unemployed and plan to seek employment within 60 days, (2) you are on welfare or (3) your report is inaccurate due to fraud. Otherwise, a CRA may charge a fee per person per request. 3. You can dispute inaccurate information with the CRA. If you tell a CRA that your file contains inaccurate information, the CRA must investigate the items (usually within 30 days) by presenting to the creditor all relevant evidence you submit, unless your dispute is frivolous. The creditor must review your evidence and report its finding to the CRA. The creditor must also advise national CRA’s to which it has provided the data of any error. The CRA must give you a written report of the investigation and a copy of your report if the investigation results in any change. If the CRA’s investigation does not resolve the dispute, you may add a brief statement to your file. The CRA must normally include a summary of your statement in future reports. If an item is deleted or a dispute statement


is filed, you may ask that anyone who has recently received your report be notified of the change. 4. Inaccurate information must be corrected or deleted. A CRA must remove or correct inaccurate or unverified information from its files, usually within 30 days after you dispute it. However, the CRA is not required to remove accurate data from your file unless it is outdated or cannot be verified. If your dispute results in any change to your report, the CRA cannot reinsert into your file a disputed item unless the information source verifies its accuracy and completeness. In addition, the CRA must give you a written notice telling you it has reinserted the item. The notice must include the name, address and telephone number of the information source. 5. You can dispute inaccurate items with the source of the information. If you tell anyone such as a creditor or employer etc., who reports to a CRA that you dispute an item, they may not then report the information to a CRA without including a notice of your dispute. In addition, once you’ve notified the source of the error in writing, it may not continue to report the information if it is, in fact, an error. 6. Outdated information may not be reported. In most cases, a CRA may not report negative information that is more than seven years old; ten years for bankruptcies. 7. Access to your file is limited. A CRA may provide information about you only to people with a need recognized by the FCRA usually to consider an application with a creditor, insurer, employer, landlord or other business. 8. Your consent is required for reports that are provided to employers, or reports that contain medical

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information. A CRA may not give out information about you to your employer, or prospective employer, without your written consent. A CRA may not report medical information about you to creditors, insurers or employers without your permission. 9. You may choose to exclude your name from CRA lists for unsolicited credit and insurance offers. Creditors and insurers may use file information as the basis for sending you unsolicited offers of credit or insurance. Such offers must include a toll-free number for you to call if you want your name and address removed from future lists. If you call you must be kept off the lists for two years. If you request, complete and return the CRA form provided for this purpose, you must be taken off the lists indefinitely. 10. You may seek damages from violators. If a CRA data violates the FCRA, you may sue them in State or Federal court.


AUTHORIZATION LETTER

YOUR NAME YOUR ADDRESS YOUR CITY, STATE AND ZIP CODE ANNUAL CREDIT REPORT REQUEST SERVICE POST OFFICE BOX 105281 ATLANTA, GA. 30348-5281 To Whom It May Concern: I, (your name here) authorize my spouse, (your spouse’s name here) to obtain a copy of my credit report. Attached to this authorization is a photocopy of my driver’s license (or state identification card). Executed this (date) day of (month), 2007 at (the name of the city you are in when you sign this letter). Sign your full name * Check the links provided above for each CRA’s instructions for submission by mail.

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DISPUTE LETTER

YOUR NAME YOUR ADDRESS YOUR CITY, STATE AND ZIP CODE ANNUAL CREDIT REPORT REQUEST SERVICE POST OFFICE BOX 105281 ATLANTA, GA. 30348-5281 To Whom It May Concern: My name is (your name here) and my social security number is (place your social security number here) I dispute the following information on my credit report: Creditors name, account number and why you dispute the charge (it’s not your account, you never paid late, it has been paid in full etc.) My current address is (place your current address, city and zip code here), my date of birth is (place the month, date and year here). I am employed at (name, address and telephone number of your current employer if you are currently unemployed place the information of your last employer here). If your spouse is also disputing the information on your credit report they must give their information in this letter. If my report changes after your investigation or a statement is added, an updated credit report should be sent to the following companies who have received my report (in the last 2 years if they requested your report for employment purposes 1 year for any other reason):


Name of company that you want an updated report to be sent to. Sincerely, Sign your full name Print your full name

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REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF CREDIT

YOUR NAME YOUR ADDRESS YOUR CITY, STATE AND ZIP CODE ANNUAL CREDIT REPORT REQUEST SERVICE POST OFFICE BOX 105281 ATLANTA, GA. 30348-5281 I (place your name here), request that the information in my credit file be disclosed to me. To properly establish and confirm my identification in my credit record I have completed and attached the Annual Credit Report Request Form. Please send the report to my current address. (If you want a copy of your spouse’s credit report they must complete the same form and enclose an authorization form. They must also sign this letter.) Sign your full name


SAMPLE 100 WORD STATEMENT YOUR NAME YOUR ADDRESS YOUR CITY, STATE AND ZIP CODE ANNUAL CREDIT REPORT REQUEST SERVICE POST OFFICE BOX 105281 ATLANTA, GA. 30348-5281 To Whom It May Concern: The following is my 100 word statement that I would like added to my credit report under the court Judgment Case Number 1234567: “This judgement was the result of my tenant suing for the return of her deposit. The tenant breached her lease by having a dog on the premises the deposit was kept for damages. The court ignored the lease and ruled in the tenants behalf and because I live out of state I did not appeal the judgment because it was cost prohibitive. I paid the judgment as ordered by the court within 30 days but the court failed to include the interest. Within 5 days of learning there was interest due it was paid in full.” Thank You, Sign Your Full Name

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IMPORTANT ADDRESSES 1. ANNUAL CREDIT REPORT REQUEST SERVICE POST OFFICE BOX 105281 ATLANTA, GA. 30348-5281 2. EXPERIAN CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS 475 ANTON BL COSTA MESA, CA. 92626 714-830-7000 955 AMERICAN LANE SCHAMBURG, IL. 60173 847-517-5608 REGIONAL OFFICES EASTERN REGION 3 LEAR JET LANE, SUITE 200 LATHAM, NY. 12210 153 E 53RD STREET, 58TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY. 10022 4 GATEHALL DRIVE, 3RD FLOOR PARSIPPINY, NJ. 87054 MIDWESTERN REGION 949 WEST BOND STREET LINCOLN, NE. 68521-3694 955 AMERICAN LANE SCHAMBURG, IL. 60173 SOUTHERN REGION 5909 PEACHTREE DUNWOODY ROAD NE, SUITE 1000 ATLANTA, GA. 30328 701 EXPERIAN PARKWAY ALLEN, TX. 75013


WESTERN REGION 475 ANTON BLVD COSTA MESA, CA. 92626 18500 VON KARMAN AVE IRVINE, CA. 92612 3. EQUIFAX CREDIT INFORMATION SERVICE POST OFFICE BOX 740241 ATLANTA, GA. 30374 4. TRANSUNION CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS POST OFFICE BOX 2000 CHESTER, PA. 19022-2000

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DISCLAIMER

I believe this book can be useful in providing non-lawyers with information aimed at understanding your credit rights. It is not intended to provide legal advice to readers. It is intended to be a resource of general information. I strive to keep the information up-to-date, complete and correct, but I do not promise or guarantee that it will be. No information provided in this book is intended as legal advice. The links to other sites on the Internet are provided to help you locate other Internet sites that may be of interest to you. I do not imply, state, or claim that I sponsor, am affiliated or associated with, or am I legally authorized to use any trade name, registered trademark, logo, legal or official seal, or copyrighted symbol that may be used in the links.

Documents

HOW TO REPAIR YOUR CREDIT REPORT