Any other insightful tips? TU & EFX

EFX is horrible about reporting correct credit limits (esp if you have Cap1, citi etc)

IF you have erroneous inquiries, they all complain about disputing... nothing in the fcra negates disputing inquiries, in fact, the definition of "file" is all info... regardless.

Efx doesn't normally send proc descriptions out. Exp isn't much better. TU does the best of it. All bureaus will neglect it though if you ask for a procedural description at the time you submit your written disputes (nothing prohibits it). YOu don't have to send another letter at the close of the disputes asking for the descriptions.

IF you do get a description that's generic... (verified by phone, in writing or elec) but doesn't say how they did your specific disputes, all of them.. it's a violation.

check the addresses and phone numbers they give you for contacts... they "verified" an old trade line on my report... for a company that's been out of business since the 90's... no address or phone anymore and the ones they gave me were undeliverable and the phone was disconnected.

THey fake reinvestigations. they'll say the neg was verified and the positive wasn't.

they'll delete the trade line in full for no creditor response when it's a good trade line and say all you wanted was the balance to reflect 0....

they have a predisposition against consumers

Look at everything in the trade lines... all of it. IT's all supposed to be complete and correct. A date here or a balance there actually can have a huge score impact.

Sometimes just disputing an item will make your dla (date of last activity) bump to this month for scoring purposes. Horrible for old accounts with a missed payment here and there.

Look at your Equifax reason codes on your score: they'll tell you what's screwing you. If all your negs are 24 mos out but you're getting "currently derog" "recent derog" etc.. . you've been reaged somehow for scoring purposes...

Experian doesn't report open accounts (accounts you must pay in full every month) as open, they report them as revolving (and that can really hurt your score).

I've seen Experian make my report look clean but still have trade lines coded derog. the only way I really found out what they were reporting was to see my mortgage trimerge report... A trimerge will tell you what's really being sent out. I had lines "look" completely positive but they showed up in the "derog" section of the trimerge. all that counts is that coding. I didn't see it, but my lender sure did.

TU will "verify" and say "New information below" when the only new information is the phrase "new information below". They seem to be the worst offender at this one, although the others sometimes try to say they corrected an item when it's exactly the same....

By the way, as a juror, if I saw that last one I'd hand a consumer millions in punitives...

Those are off the top of my head

 

If you really have an erroneous inquiry and you can't dispute it, how can you add a consumer statement NEXT to it? their software won't allow it.

Your consumer statements sometimes will drop after 6 mos. TU is the worst offender to me about this one.

I believe all will drop alerts after 7 years, but they won't tell you your file is now open to fraud when you think it's protected. Again, TU says permanent but it's temporary and they give no warning of the drop.

TU 's system is so antiquated that they can't even tell you who reported new information. A new address can pop up, they don't know from where...

If you have easy TU items to fix (or important ones like warnings and address changes) and you put any other item in dispute, the important items such as the warnings won't go on for 30 days. You'll be unprotected b/c TU's system is "being updated" as we speak...

I think Tu's inadequate system is actually the most dangerous to us all...

Equifax's attitude is the worst...

Experian is moderate in both...

 

Marie, on the tradeline they verified, but the company had gone out of business...what steps did you take and was this with Equifax?

I have ONE stubborn account (which I thought would be the easiest) which they have verified twice. The company is out of business. They have provided me with two addresses and both times, my CRRR letter was returned marked as undeliverable as addressed. I called them up to see if they had another address and was told "sorry, those are the only two addresses we have for them." I asked how they could possibly have properly investigated my dispute if they don't even have the original creditor's correct address. She basically said she didn't know what else to tell me.

Soooo...I sent another letter of dispute, included copies of the two returned envelopes (still sealed), and they haven't even bothered to stick the account in dispute. Now they *always* list accounts in dispute for me, so I'm thinking they tossed it.

I just sent them a "follow-up" fax of the dispute, but would love to hear what you did and how it turned out.

Thanks,
L

 

well... let's just say I'm unable to say right now... but you guess pretty well

Now, just discussing your issue, that's a slam dunk Can you imagine any jury hearing this ???
Ugh.

I just talked with a very powerful FCRA atty's assistant a few minutes ago and got some great advice:

Apply for local credit while the errors on your report show... get denied or a higher cost of credit. That way you can get a letter from this local person and if push comes to shove, you can subpeona them and they're local. Large credit card companies are difficult because you can't find a specific person who knows your case (or they're difficult to get to show in court)...
but your local friendly banker can see the item's in dispute or not, can write a letter for you detailing the reasons for decline, and can show in court (and it's local) if need be...

You have my best advice already... If you want to push the issue you have a slam dunk I would think any judge or jury would be very irritated to hear a cra "verified" with a nonexistent entity...

it's like dead people voting... it's just a no no (unless you're in Texas, of course :

 

LOL, Marie! Well, looks like EQ will be getting served in a couple of weeks. It is going to come down to this one last account. I had some really good stuff on Experian, but NOTHING as serious as what I have on Equifax. Thanks for your input!


L

 

In this case what would you do? I have a certain account that on every dispute I've done since September that is the response I get back, However the account has never changed.