Well, 5 years after getting myself into serious financial distress, my current financial situation is really not all that bad. But the fact remains that I have several charge-offs on my credit report from ~5 years ago, and I'm sure this is one reason I've recently been denied credit. I'm going to start disputing these older accounts that went to collection. Now, the Ten Commandments tell me I shouldn't lie on my disputes. Can anyone suggest some verbiage I can use to create a plausible dispute letter about accurate, current, but hopefully unverifiable information on my credit report? Second question: If an account went to collection and is disputed, who is responsible for verifying it: the original creditor, or the collection agency? Thanks, -Nevo
I wrote the Ten Commandments (that you refer to.) Here are a couple of possibilities: "I don't recall this account as you list it. Someone must have screwed up and I want it deleted immediately." or "If I had a ______ item on my report, I'm sure that I would know about it. This comes as a shock. Please be so kind as to fix your mistakes and take this off my report as soon as possible." Get the idea? Collection accounts should be verified by the collection agency and credit accounts by the creditor. Whoever reported verifies. Best of luck, Jason
