Hi once again everyone, Thank you for the great welcome to this forum. I am sure I left out a few "screen names" but it was not intentional. I would like to know from a concensus standpoint if sending a dispute letter to all three CRA's at the same time is the best course of action, or is it preferable as far as results are concerned to concentrate on one at a time. From what I can gather it is sometimes time consuming and often frustrating to get the results you would like or need as the case of qualifying for a mortgage are concerned. I have read all the information listed in the library and some of it seems contradictory. I have also seen quite a few members prefer to do their disputes etc. online directly with the e-presence of the CRA. Does this achieve the same results, only faster or is there another reason?
singledad: from what I can gather I think that it is best to dispute with all three bureas at the same. My thinking is that the collection agency or creditor has a greater chance of not verifying if all three requests come in at the same time. However you should always validate (send the letter crrr) first. This helps to greatly reduce the "holding your breath factor" because if they are unable to validate you can send the CRA your supporting documents i.e. copies of letters you sent along with the green cards as proof of receipt and they are bound by law to consider your documents as supporting your case for deletion. Quite honestly, I think this method, while it takes longer, is more effective than just approaching CRA's and disputing cold. Many times, if you approach them with no documentation it just comes back verified anyway, and then you would still have to send them the procedure letter and wait for their reinvestigation. So I say all that to say it's best to start at the beginning with the validations. Send them to everyone that is reporting negative info on you and then we'll go from there. Don't forget CRRR! P.S. I always use snail mail crrr instead of online methods. It takes longer but in my opinion it's more effective, with the possible exception of inquiries. Good Luck Singledad! You are on your way to the land of perfect creditdom. I'll see you there.
Dispute all 3 at same time. 3 separate entities and no reason to treat them as one. Concentrating on one at a time is a waste of your efforts. You can just as easily send the same letter (modified with PUT CRA NAME HERE) and it means fewer trips to the post office for CRRR letters. I prefer online disputes because they are at least processed every time (no losing your dispute letter in the CRA garbage pail) and they are entered into the dispute process faster because you do not have to wait for snail mail. The results are about the same as mailing or faxing. You have a bit of an easier time with evidence in a paper trail through snail mail disputes, if you eventually end up suing them. Therefore when I dispute online I make careful effort to document what items I am disputing and when I disputed them, save copies of the electronic receipts I get, and write down all confirmation numbers. Try different methods (online/snailmail/faxing) and when one fails (gets verified) switch to another next time and when one works, try it again. -Peace, Dave
When I started in May 2001, My intention was to dispute online first to get a small number of items off and then follow up with snail mail on the harder ones. I have had INCREDIBLE success via online disputes and I would venture to guess over 90% of my deletions came via online disputes. I have recently begun the snail mail approach for the very few items remaining. I even slapped Credit Store collection agency around a litlle bit with some well-written faxes. They caved. My opinion is to start online and then follow up in writing if needed. I am beginning a paper trail to prep for a potential suit against those holding my student loans (many duplicates they won't remove) so snail mail is my weapon of choice.
I can't stress this enough. Everyone is telling you this, but I want to re-iterate. Even though its a pain, keep a papertrail and records of everything. Send mail certified RRR, print all your online disputes, print your email correspondence, print your credit reports before and after. And keep it all organized and you'll catch them screwing up enough to have the upper hand. Some things will go away with a dispute. But the real tough ones that won't validate and get repeatedly verified need the lawsuit threat. If you have the proof on paper, you can first threaten lawsuit, if they don't move, you can file it. You always have the option of dropping the suit prior to the court date, but they will cave in and accept your settlement if you have the proof to win a case. And to answer your question, definately all 3 at the same time...
even though my name wasn't listed (tee hee) i will say i concur with the folks who have posted so far. staying organized is the key, because i can say after only four months, the amount of paper can be overwhelming. the paper trail is key, in the likely case you may have to file a lawsuit against either the collector or the cra. i started out doing mail disputes, and i actually like doing those, but online is definitely more convenient. my only complaint comes from exp who makes it hard to dispute something online if they have previously verified it.
