First, I want to say that I've lurked this board since August and I started my credit report quest in September. I read a lot of info here and I thank everyone for posting to this great site. It makes you realize you're not alone in this world. Anyway, I see some people posting that they believe it when a CRA says they verified something. I have proof that it's not always the case and if you remain persistent, you will succeed in proving the CRAs wrong. Case in point, I had info on all 3 of my reports for BofA stating a couple 30 day lates and a couple 60 day lates for the account. I kept diputing with the CRAs. All came back "verified". I must've disputed and requested validation about 3 times for each CRA. I finally got fed up and wrote BofA stating the same thing I was writing the CRAs. Guess what? I received a signed letter from BofA stating that they were wrong, had duplicate account numbers for me, and will be contacting the CRAs to remove the bad stuff. So, basically, even though the CRAs were saying they had verified the info, it only took one letter to the actual creditor for ME to "verify" that THEY were full of it. By the way, since I started my quest in September, my credit scores have gone from 495 TU, 515 EQ, 525 EX to around 690 TU, 730-something EQ and EX. Peristence, dedication and patience pays off.
Wow! Great job! That is a huge jump in score considering that you just started in September. Congratulations.
Thanks, I just posted this in response to someone elses post, so I'm cutting and pasting it here: Although it may seem that it wasn't very long for me to raise mine about 180-200 points, it's actually been very close to 6 months. I think CHOD helped, but I think the main thing that helped me was taking two whole days to lay everything out for all 3 CRAs, deciding what were the most hazardous entries and dealing with those first. I did dispute online and via CRR at the same time, several times. Maybe that was pushing my luck, but hindsight, maybe I got lucky and they got tired of dealing with me. I wasn't trying to be frivolous, just making sure they got my disputes. ;-)
That is great if you can get the ca's to work with you, I have one collection agency that has dinged each of my reports 6 times for different accounts. Some are paid, some are not, but they absolutely refuse to delete, they told me that it is illegal to delete a valid item and they are an "honest" collection agency. I begged, I pleaded, I cried, all to no avail. Congrats to you.
I had a collection account and disputing with the CRAs didn't work as it came back verified. As for the CA they were being idiots, especially it only being barely over $125. So, I stepped back and thought that I wanted to get this off asap and that I'll have to give a little, afterall, I just wanted it off...period. I wrote the CA a letter and basically told them, "look, I am not agreeing that it's mine, but I'll pay it only on the grounds that you sign a letter stating that you will remove it from all of my credit reports." They agreed and it's off all 3. I also specifically stated, "you agree to remove this from the credit reporting agencies, including, but not limited to, EQ, EX, and TU." This keeps me from having to worry about some Mom and Pop CRA still having it in their books. I could've continued dealing with this CA for months, but I'm buying another house soon and if paying that $125+ is going to save me $15,000 in interest or downpayment in the long run, I'm all for it.
Just curious how long it took from the time that the creditor said they would update until it actually showed up on your reports. Thanks.
For EQ and TU, it was about a week after they received everything and EX seems to be the slowest on updating ANYTHING for me, and it took about 2 1/2 weeks.
