Monday, March 9, 2009

How to Use Government Rights to Legally Fix Your Credit Report

By Rebecca Gray

The term "Credit Repair" might set off an alarm bell in your head. To the novice, credit repair involves all sorts of underground or illegal tactics. That is probably because there are so many contradictory "experts" and credit repair companies advertising there services on the Internet.

Whenever somebody tells you that credit repair is unquestionably illegal, you must think about the source of that information. Often credit repair is associated with deadbeats who are looking to skip out on financial obligations.

Credit bureaus are for profit companies. Two of the three bureaus are organizations traded on the public stock exchange. They must answer to their Board of Directors and share holders. Ensuring that your credit report is perfectly accurate cuts into company profits. That is precisely why they do not always share your interest of having a perfectly accurate credit file.

Youll find plenty of websites claiming that its not possible to fix your credit score, that credit repair simply isnt possible " or even legal. Of course, its in the financial interest of lenders, collection agencies, creditors and even credit bureaus to protect their profits and make sure that mistakes that show up on YOUR credit report are in THEIR favor. They want to collect, and they know that theyll lose money if consumers know " and pursue " their rights to legal credit repair.

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumers are allowed to dispute any item in their file for free, and request an investigation into any questionable entries on their credit report. The consumer reporting company (the credit bureau) and the information provider (usually the creditor) are legally required to investigate, verify, and correct incomplete or inaccurate information in your credit file. This is something that everyone is legally entitled to, and this is legal credit repair!

Credit repair should be more accurately labeled 'credit correction' since it really is a collection of techniques to ensure your record is accurate.

Removing a questionable item from your record is within your legal rights and can be accomplished by way of a dispute. After you file your dispute the bureaus and creditors must perform an investigation within a time period. If they fail to do so, the questionable item must be removed.

There are so many reasons for challenging negative items. For example, often a negative item may belong to another person altogether. Or, perhaps the item is a duplicate. In other words, different parties may be reporting the exact same debt multiple times on your files.

Credit repair can prove to be a confusing and overwhelming process - especially if the bureaus fail to acknowledge your requests. If this happens - as it often does - you may consider enlisting a professional credit repair law firm. If so, make sure to verify that the law firm in question has experience and a track record of satisfied customers.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment