I've read several samples of dispute letters and most quote the applicable laws, e.g.: "Under federal law, you have thirty (30) days to complete your re-investigation" "Failure to comply with these federal regulations by credit reporting agencies are investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (see 15 USC 41, et seq.)." Is it really necessary to take this tone on your first letter? And, the fact that you state the law or not doesn't change it's applicability.
There are two views on this... First is play dumb, not be dumb. i.e. Make them believe you are the most unsophisticated consumer that they will ever walk into, so they'll violate, thinking you don't know anything about your rights. Second is to provide them due warning that they are in fact dealing with an educated consumer. I personally don't ver batem quote the law, but I do make them know that I know the law, and won't tolerate anything less than what I personally find to be acceptable, for complete validation, which to me is documentation which conclusively validates both the amount of the debt, and who the debt belongs to, and I make it clear that a print-out, or any other false attempt at validation, will not be accepted. If it scares the CA away, good ridence. If they still believe that I am just Joe Schmo who stumbled upon a form letter, and sent it out, then they find out otherwise in my follow-up letters when they decide to send anything which is unacceptable. I also make sure that they know that I know that my rights are still in force if they decide to dump the account onto someone else.
Butch, That letter is great! Believe I'm gonna start with a passive tone also. Something like, "my loan officer at my credit union pointed out these negative items on my CR and said that they shouldn't be there because they are past the reporting limitation of 7 years. Is this correct?"
Re: Re: dispute letters & quoting the law? Yep, exactly! Again though nothing is set in stone, I just gave you what worked for me with the CRAs on your other post. Like I said, passive and calm up front, but also a quick I am informed of my rights at the end. Plus the things I had removed were long overdue to be removed, so my quoting law was no big deal IMP.
Re: Re: dispute letters & quoting the law? Ice_Siren, I didnâ??t discard your other info. Iâ??m just still trying to formulate a game plan. Your input is greatly appreciated.
Re: Re: dispute letters & quoting the law? No problem, I did not think you had. I think that what you wrote was an excellent approach. I just like to read the reasonings behind why people choose to approach their situations the way they do and the success they may have had with it. It gives me a new perspective to mull over and I think that is why I enjoy reading the boards so much.
Re: Re: Re: dispute letters & quoting the law? I think I'm going to take the passive approach because I don't expect much of a challenge. Once I point out to the CRA that the items have exceeded the allowable reporting deadline, I expect them to be removed without issue. If they're not ... then I play hard ball!
