You need to include the following information:

• Full Name including senior or junior
• Address
• Social Security Number
• Copy of Driver’s License
• Copy of Utility Bill – showing address where you live.

Before you dispute any contents of the credit report make sure all personal information is correct if you have multiple name spellings, incorrect addresses, more than one social security number, or incorrect employment data showing contact the credit reporting agency to fix this first. Sometimes just correcting these areas will automatically remove incorrect accounts contained in the credit report like when a file is Mixed, or you have been the victim of ID Theft.

In the body of the letter list the accounts you are disputing:

• Name of creditor – Include the member name used on the credit report – this can differ from the name you know the company by.
• Account Number – You don’t have to hunt down the full account number, you can just use the account number listed on the credit report, and they will be able to match it up.
• If there is more than one account with the same creditor, be sure to add the Open Date, Credit Limit and such to further identify the account.
• If you can include a copy of the credit report with the dispute letter and use a highlight marker to collar the accounts you will be disputing. Be sure to number them off 1.2.3.
• On the dispute letter number them to correspond with the copy of the credit report.

Note – The credit reporting agencies take everything literal, you have to spell it out for them, and otherwise they quite often kick back the dispute and just don’t process it. Making you lose time and have to further re-dispute the same item.

When you dispute be sure to tell them what exactly is wrong:

• Incorrect Open Date
• Incorrect Credit Limit (often creditors will suppress credit limits to prevent other creditors from shopping their customers and luring them away with better deals). This will cause a drop in your credit score – by all means insist that they fix this.
• Incorrect Late Listing – this one I usually recommend that instead of disputing direct with the credit reporting agency that you contact the creditor directly using a Goodwill Letter, which I will discuss later.
• Incorrect Balance – Often when consumers close out an account and pay it off, the creditor stops reporting on the account before the final update. You have to watch for this, because it will result in application declines with new lenders if they think you still owe an already paid debt.
• Incorrect Default Date – This is so important, negative accounts will stay on the credit report for 7 years plus 6 months leading to the charge off (or write off). This is how the credit reporting agency determines the expiration of the listing so it can be removed off of the credit report. It is common for collection agencies or creditors to lie to the credit reporting agency thus causing the account to be re-aged. Meaning it looks newer so the account stays on the credit report longer. This can also affect the statute of limitations (the period of time a creditor or collection agency can legally sue).
• On public records you can dispute the Assets or Liabilities, often the court source for the court house over looks collecting this data. It might be a means for you to contend that the account needs to be removed.
• Discharge Date on public records – Often when a judgment or bankruptcy is released, discharged, satisfied, or dismissed. The plaintiff neglects to file the proper papers with the court house. You then need to contact the creditor and notify them that they need to file papers with the court house. Then you would need to go to the court house and pay a fee for a copy so you can forward it to the credit reporting agency to update.

Once you identify the problem, you don’t need to go into further details about the account other than to say it is incorrect and that you want them to correct it or delete it. Like: “Incorrect balance, please update or remove.”

It is nice if you have documents to forward with the dispute showing proof that you paid, never send originals only copies. Send all disputes by Certified Mail & Return Receipt Requested. This will make them send a green card back to you confirming that they received the dispute. This will also show you the start of the dispute period. The credit reporting agency only has 30 days to investigate. If they go over that period of time you can write back and demand deletion. Add 5 more days for mail times.
If the credit reporting agency removes the account; the creditor or collection agency can add the information back later if they see it missing. In that instance the credit reporting agency must give you 5 business day notice of reinsertion. If they fail to do this and you see the information added back, all you have to do is write back to the credit reporting agency pointing out that they did not notify you of reinsertion and that you are requesting that this data be removed permanently.

Note: Don’t use pre-written letters on the internet, write your own dispute! Don’t use legal language notifying the credit reporting agency of your rights, or threaten to sue. This will get your disputes flagged, and the credit reporting agency can lock your file down. This can cause problems when you try to apply for new credit. The new lender will see the lock down, and most likely refuse approval.

If you need to re-dispute because you are not satisfied with the results – wait more than 30 days before re-disputing, if you send in too many disputes too close together, the credit reporting agency can deem your dispute frivolous and send you a letter about the evils of using credit repair companies and refuse further disputes. It can take months or years to re-open the ability to dispute on that account again. If you know you are right and this happens, you have no choice you have to resolve the problem with the company that reported the inaccurate information.

If you are absolutely getting nowhere with the credit reporting agency disputes you can call the Federal Trade Commission to ask for their help. They have an Alternative Dispute Resolution Program. More information is contained here: http://www.fec.gov/em/adr.shtml

This can sometimes motivate the credit reporting agency to take more care with your dispute, sometimes it gets results faster than if you just went directly through them.

It is important if any incorrect information resulted in denial for new credit or an adverse action on any existing accounts you can request that the credit reporting agency automatically send updated copies of your credit report to all creditors and employers dating 6 months back. This can save you an unnecessary inquiry on your credit report, and they may contact you with a change of heart concerning your application or existing account.

This covers the main points I wanted to share on this subject, but if you have further questions on a specific nature, please visit the board and look for me. I go by NightStar.