I have a problem an I am hoping that someone can help me with a solution. I have a credit card account that is showing quite a number of late payments (its Discover Card.) The dates and number of payments vary greatly on each of my three credit reports. So, I took the first step and disputed these reports to all three CRA's. There were some changes made, i.e., the number and dates of late payments changed somewhat from report to report after my dispute...some of the lates reported on Equifax dropped off, but a new one (from about two years ago) appeared. I firmly believe that Experian didn't even bother to do an investgation, and a few dropped off my Transunion. Since I believed that Experian faked the investigation (they didn't even bother to change the date to say "updated" the month that the investigation was supposedly done) I promptly filed another dispute with them. It has been 40 days by the way, and I haven't heard from them yet. I also called Discover to see if THEY could tell me the dates of the late payments, but all they could say was "you were reported three times." I am frustrated because 1) If they can't give me the dates, how do I even know if the dates that they are reporting are seven years old or seven months old; and 2) If I can't get the dates, how can I go back through my cancelled checks to see if I have proof that I paid on time?? By the way, the rep I spoke to at Discover said that there was no record of any CRA's contacting them to investigate my dispute. Lastly, the Discover account has been paid in full for about three months (I don't know if that makes any difference at all, but I thought I'd throw it in there.) Does anyone in the know have any advice, information or anything else that can help? I have no idea what to do to get this mess straightened out.
You could use a professional credit repair company. I recently signed up with a company called junum.com. They charge 21.95 a month for single and 33.95 for a couple and 8 per item that is deleted off of your report. I would dispute things on my credit too and got alot of it off. But then I got to the stuff that I wasn't having any luck with. So I decided to go with them. And by the way, I had the worst luck with Experian.
Madelyn, Wow...Im sitting in the same boat. Tons of late pays on my discover account. The account was closed by discover 2 years ago(closed by credit grantor). It is the last negatige on my report. Anyway, I have to wait about 30 more days before I dispute it. Are you still a discover account holder in good standing? A couple months ago I disputed a late pay with the bureaus. Experian and Equifax deleted it however Trans Union verified it. I was a current account holder with the bank and I mailed them a letter asking them to remove the late pay. I also called prior to the letter and asked what their records said about my late pay. The rep told me the account history showed that the bureaus did inquire about the late pay. She also gave me the date of the delinquency. In the end they removed the late from trans union. Moral of the story- discover will most likely have records on your profile in your account history of inquiries made by the bureaus. Also, you may just write discover and ask to delete the lates for whatever reason. It is worth a shot. Its not as if discover can black flag you as "frivolous and irrelevant". Worst case is they tell you no. If you have an account with them that will give you a little bit of leverage. Although I would advise against actually closing an account with a prime bank and with late pays on your file. If discover doesnt delete the lates, wait about 90 days from your last CR dispute and write the bureaus and dispute again. Try to dispute them for a different reason than the first time. If they reverify, write a letter and demand they give you the contact information of the person that verified the late pays and they method they used to verify them. Try to sound forcefull in your letter. They might see you as a growing problem and delete your lates. Definitely worth a shot. If this turns out to be another dead end dont worry. Whether you keep your discover account or dont it will not reach charge off status or "closed by credit grantor". So you could wait a year or two and then run out some more disputes. Chances are they wont want to verify a late pay that is ancient. I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck. Please drop me an email from time to time and tell me your progress as I will be going through the same @!#$ in about a month. Good luck, Rock
I paid off the account in full a couple months ago. Just curious, why are you waiting 30 more days to dispute and will your dispute be with Discover or the bureaus?
I wait 90 days between disputes. Any sooner and the bureaus will most likely trash your disputes. I will dispute with the bureaus first. Rock
You should write Discover. They have a specific department and mailing address that deals with credit reporting. Discover Card P.O. Box 15316 Wilmington, DE 19850-5316 Be sure to include your name, address, home telephone number and account number as well as your social. Regards, JP
