How Can I Fix My Credit?

Bad Credit Repair Advice From a Major Newspaper

Here is an example of terrible credit repair advice from the Independent, a major UK newspaper. In an article titled “If there’s a stain on your name, erase it yourself…” the paper said “Put simply, these firms do nothing more than you can do yourself with very little effort and at a fraction of the cost. .. For example, does the report say you failed to make certain repayments, when actually you did? If you find an inaccuracy then you ask the reference agency to correct the entry.”

The Independent goes on to say that what we call the credit reporting bureau will fix the problem, and with a smile apparently. I suppose the credit bureaus could be more cooperative in England than in the USA, but I doubt it. They are owned by the same big American firms and their systems are modeled after their American cousins, if not exact duplicates. Consumer credit disputes are not a profit making activity of the credit reporting companies. These departments are run as efficiently, and cost effectively as possible. They cannot afford to spend more than a couple minutes on any credit dispute letter.

The worst, however, is the advice that “…the credit reference agencies do allow people to add an entry explaining any mitigating circumstances surrounding the CCJ, such as you were in dispute with the firm that placed it there because of an unpaid bill.” This is terrible advice. It is the same as pleading guilty to a crime before the bailiff even reads the charges and you know the evidence against you.

The law, in America at least, is that the credit reporting bureaus can keep negative items on your credit report only if they can verify the accuracy of each disputed item.

Here’s an example. You make the call. You defaulted on a personal loan from ABC Finance Co. three years ago. The account is in collection and appears as such on all your credit reports. You learn from your sister in law’s neighbor that ABC Finance Co. just went through a merger and to make their database compatible purged all inactive customer records older than two years.

If you send a properly drafted dispute letter to the credit reporting bureaus telling them to remove the negative ABC Finance Co. tradeline they would be required by law to remove it because it cannot be verified. If you had done what the Independent columnist recommended and gave the credit reporting bureau a written explanation of why you defaulted on that ABC Finance Co. loan – you’re screwed – because you have provided all the verification to keep that negative item on your credit report that the credit bureau could not otherwise get.

Credit repair is not for amateurs. Let the professionals do it.

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