Bad Credit Agency

How can you "repair bad credit"? or dispute items on your report??

If you owe it- you owe it. How can these companies "legally" repair your credit?? I am confused?? i went to a site that says they send dispute letters...How can you dispute an account you owe?? How does this work?

Public Comments

1. If there is information in your report that is legitimately inaccurate, you should by all means dispute it. Credit agencies are obligated to investigate credit inaccuracies within 30 days or remove disputed information. But don't fall for so-called credit repair companies promising to remove unfavorable (though accurate) information from your credit reports to "instantly" improve your score. These days credit agencies not only investigate disputes quickly, they know a sham when they see it. noting down a resource which might help you strengthen your credit score and improve your credit report. Remember never spend more than what you earn! http://www.tipsity.com/finance/2008/fix-poor-credit-score-rating-report
2. They are suppose to get your said of the story on the report, so if you lost your income and creditors can see the excuse and they could give you the credit, if you now have money. That's their idea of credit repair or maybe good market word of theirs.
3. Go to your library and get a copy of the book "Credit Repair," which is published by Nolo Press. Also, the book "Good Credit is Sexy" is filled with information on this topic. Good question.
4. Avoid credit repair agencies that charge a fee to improve your FICO score by removing negative, but accurate, information from your credit reports. No one can force credit reporting agencies or lenders to remove accurate information from a credit report. Credit repair companies often take your money without delivering what they promise, or provide only temporary improvements of your score, sometimes by removing accurate information that will reappear later. As to disputig debts, you can dispute negative entries if they are past your states statute of limitations. This means the collection agency cannot take you to court to sue for payment. You can send them a letter informing them the debt is uncollectable and to verify the origin of the debt. Most junk debt collectors do not have the documentation to verify the debt so most of them do not reply. If this is the case, you then notify the CRA's the debt is "unverifiable" and they will remove it from your credit report. Here are some links to help http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/credit/reports.shtm Download a pdf file regarding how to dispute with CRA's http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/timebaralrt.pdf Information on time barred debts. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre03.shtm#improve Building a better credit report.
5. If you really want to repair your credit as badly as you say you do, then the first step is to avoid credit repair services. They don't do anything anymore special than you can do on your own. The first thing that you need to know that knowledge is power. In order to fix your credit, you should know how your credit is scored and how it affects you 1. Payment history- 35% 2. Total debt owed to avialable credit ratio-30% 3. Length of time establishing credit-15% 4. Types of credit established-10% 5. Inquiries and New accounts-10% With that said, there's 2 things when it comes to bad debts and collection items that you should be aware of, the FCRA and statute of limitations. These are 2 diffferent things. The FCRA(Fair Credit Reporting Act) is the timeframe that negative items can remain on your report which is 7½ years from the date it first went deliquent. For example if a debt first became delinquent July 10, 2000 the legal limit that the debt can be reported would be January 10, 2008. Also, there is a seperate statute of limitations that varies by state on how long a debt can be legally enforced. This is different from the FCRA, because depending on which state you live in the statute may or may not expire before the FCRA. here's a link for that http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/statuteLimitations.shtml Another important thing to know is that negative items that are less than 2 years old are hurting your score the most. It's possible that you can settle much older debts for far less in exchange for getting them removed from your report altogether. This is called a "pay to delete". I posted several links explaining this in detail http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/settle_debts.shtml http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/neg_rating_after_settle.shtml http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/CanCreditorSue4SettlementDifferences.shtml http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/ActualDebtSuccesses.shtml http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/debt-negotiation.php There's sites like the one I posted along with a few more than can help you repair your credit cheaper and easier than you would if you paid out of the pocket.
6. Big Red and Smooth are correct. These companies work by making your creditors jump through all these hoops to prove you legally owe this debt. Alot of times the creditors don't want to waste the time or don't have the records needed to validate the debt, so they just drop the issue. If a creditor cannot validate a debt, they cannot legally post it to your credit or try to collect on the debt. Remember that even if you know an item is legitimate, you still have the RIGHT to dispute it, don't let anyone tell you that it is fraud because that is simply false. That being said, the whole process is very simple and can be done yourself with the only costs being postage and your time. Check out the links Smooth posted, lots of good information there.
7. I found The best info about your Question HERE: (VERY good loans - c.cards - credit repair & score; info) http://new-loans-center.blogspot.com Good luck!
8. There's a lot of errors in credit reports. Due to frauds, human mistakes (from the banks, credit card companies, borrowers,...). I've bookmarked this site... http://debt.123thebest.info/credit_card.html Good Luck.