credit restoration

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by nikki, Feb 28, 2001.

  1. nikki

    nikki Guest

    I am trying to figure out if a company can actually take items off your credit report. Even items i have not paid but are closed, BUT ARE ACCURATE, can items be removed from your credit report? They guarantee all items will be in the trade lines, out of the derogatory. Is this a scam?
     
  2. Cadillac408

    Cadillac408 Well-Known Member

    WHO? guarantees that all items will be in the trade lines, out of the derogatory? Are you talking about a specific company? Who are they?
     
  3. Hal

    Hal Well-Known Member

    No company can remove accurate items from your credit report. The last thing you want to do, unless you are severely limited on time, is pay someone to do this.

    These "credit repair" companies will send disputes to the credit reporting agencies, and, if the creditor that entered the information does not verify the entry as accurate within a reasonable time (read as 30 days) then the item is removed. You can easily send these dispute letters on your own.

    What these companies are banking on, is that either the credit reporting agency will not process the dispute within the 30 day period, or the creditor will not respond to the inquiry from the credit reporting agency. This is common with old accounts as many companies will not keep records for a sufficient period of time to verify the information.

    I will digress on my initial point. If the creditor that entered the information on your report chooses to have the entry removed, even if accurate, they can do so.
     
  4. Cadillac408

    Cadillac408 Well-Known Member

    Weather it's moral to have ACCURATE info deleted from your report is another story. I feel that if you owe the money, you should try to pay it......someone extended you credit, therefore you need to repay them......period! But there's always 3 sides to a story though.....yours, theirs, and the truth!
     
  5. Hal

    Hal Well-Known Member

    LK - I agree, if you read my post I indicated to Nikki how these companies perform this service, and that it is nothing an individual cannot do on their own.

    I am not "Knocking" any of these services. Some people don't have the patience or the time to do this themselves. My personal opinion, is that the costs of these services far exceed their value. Most require you to obtain and send your own credit report, some will obtain it for you and charge more than the CRA. They will then send dispute letters and charge you for successful removal per item in some cases. One I know of charges $8.00 per item removed along with a monthly fee. This far exceeds the cost of typing, printing and mailing a dispute letter, even if sent certified mail/return receipt. The time factor that the credit reporting agencies have to respond equals an additional month of membership fees to the service. If deleting 12 items, takes a year of the dispute process at $14.95 per month membership, plus the $8.00 fee per item the member pays $275.00. Not a bad price if you don't mind spending the money, but 12 items cert mail/ret receipt even if sent twice - less than $100.00. I would vote to do this myself.

    What disturbs me is many of these companies claim to have some wonderful computer system that knows all sorts of secrets to repairing your credit. The reality is most just follow the FCRA dispute process - no secret there. The only computer program needed - a word processor.

    They give the consi
     
  6. Hal

    Hal Well-Known Member

    LK - I agree, if you read my post I indicated to Nikki how these companies perform this service, and that it is nothing an individual cannot do on their own.

    I am not "Knocking" any of these services. Some people don't have the patience or the time to do this themselves. My personal opinion, is that the costs of these services far exceed their value. Most require you to obtain and send your own credit report, some will obtain it for you and charge more than the CRA. They will then send dispute letters and charge you for successful removal per item in some cases. One I know of charges $8.00 per item removed along with a monthly fee. This far exceeds the cost of typing, printing and mailing a dispute letter, even if sent certified mail/return receipt. The time factor that the credit reporting agencies have to respond equals an additional month of membership fees to the service. If deleting 12 items, takes a year of the dispute process at $14.95 per month membership, plus the $8.00 fee per item the member pays $275.00. Not a bad price if you don't mind spending the money, but 12 items cert mail/ret receipt even if sent twice - less than $100.00. I would vote to do this myself.

    What disturbs me is many of these companies claim to have some wonderful computer system that knows all sorts of secrets to repairing your credit. The reality is most just follow the FCRA dispute process - no secret there. The only computer program needed - a word processor.
     
  7. Hal

    Hal Well-Known Member

    Sorry, I posted the prev message twice!
     
  8. rachal

    rachal Member

    whether this helps or not...here is my story...i started to dispute old items on my c.r. i considered using junum but i thought i would try myself first (old, small $$ accounts). i did my own letter to the cra's. Each cra sent me another copy of my report with a form or via online way to dispute. One derog was deleted within 2 wks. they sent me a revised c.r. when i called to ask about the other disputes,they had no record of the disputes, but she allowed me to dispute it on the phone. i will be notified. My cost at this point is .33 and a 10 minute phone call. My advice is try it yourself. There are sample letters available everywhere but I think a simple statement does the same. With the bulk of mail the cra's receive, i can't imagine they read any long, detailed letter anyway. short, sweet and to the point.
    good luck, whichever way you choose.
     
  9. marci

    marci Well-Known Member

    I disputed about 13 items on my reports - all by phone,
    with the exception of one letter sent c/rr. I started in November 2000 and finished two
    weeks ago.

    Of these, 12 were deleted. (By the way, all of my accounts were paid in full, AND I had
    written agreement from every single creditor that they were to be deleted).

    It cost me around 4 dollars and 10 hours of phone time.

    A much better alternative to Junum/Lexington. HAving said that, I don't deny their usefulness. I may retain their services later to remove my last derog.

    I think people ought to do ALL they can do themselves in disputing and then pay someone as
    a last resort.
     
  10. Bill Bauer

    Bill Bauer Guest

    I am totally flabergasted! I never thought I would ever see one complete set of replies from such a large number of people as have replied to your questions that I could not rip to shreds due to the stupidity and gross ignorance ot the posts.

    My hat is off to all the posters so far because not one of them have given any really bad advice whatsoever.

    One thing I do disagree with is the idea of making statements to the CRA that dispute the entry. I strongly advocate not making any statements whatsoever. Simply demand investigation and let the cards fall where they may. When I do that, I expect to receive the stock answer that the report has been verified, but it's what you do after that that gets the negatives deleted if indeed they can be. What I like to call "apamming" techniques do work quite often, but I think they should be used only as a last resort.

    Bill Bauer
     
  11. rossk0675

    rossk0675 New Member

    No, this is not a scam. A company only remove those items which affect your credit score.
     
  12. jam237

    jam237 Well-Known Member

    Why are you replying to a 16 year old post?
     

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