A little while ago I checked my annual free credit reports and was very surprised to see that at some point Equifax mistakenly added two bankruptcy filings to my report. I started a dispute online then they requested identifying documents which I promptly faxed, and that was the last I received correspondence from them--I didn't hear from them either way on the false records. Since they didn't respond in the time they said they would, I've been following up periodically on the phone with their dispute department only to be told they are processing it, they need 45 days, etc. Today I called and I can't get through to their dispute people--I'm being told I have to purchase a credit report to talk with them. My understanding is that under the FCRA, they must report the results of a dispute I initiated, so I was planning on sending a certified letter to them stating that and requesting the results of their investigation (again providing the identifying documents to hopefully prevent any more delays). I'm posting here to ask if there is anything else I should do (perhaps there's an oversight agency set up by the FCRA?), or if I'm wrong about the FCRA and am wasting my time? Thanks for your help!
I believe they have 45 days to respond to your dispute when you use annualcreditreport.com. So, that's probably where their "45 day response" it coming from. In the future, don't ever use the online disputing service the bureaus provide. I think it's much better to just do everything in writing, cmrr, from the very beginning. Also, an incorrect bankruptcy should be really easy for them to verify, so I'm not sure why you're getting the runaround. You're plan sounds good though, and I don't know of any better route for you to take at this time. Did you already go ahead and send the letter?
I always understood the whole 45-day thing to allow 7 days each way for USPS processing. Or it may be that there's some precedent out there where a judge denied a claim to damages because the CRA didn't update by the 31st day, and another where a judgment was entered against the CRA on the 46th day. I guess my thought on the whole matter is that 15 days really doesn't matter all that much. In the world of fixing incorrect information on your credit report, getting ANYTHING to happen within 15 days would be a miracle twice over.
By law the credit(s) have 30 days to respond to the credit bureaus acknowledging that is your CORRECT information. The laws are mainly on the consumers side not the 3 major credit bureaus which most consumers think. Go ahead and track the date that the representative from each bureua received your certified dispute/investigation but make sure that you pay for the receipt sign-off post card that the post office will normally ask if you want proof that someone from the bureau signed off so normally in 5-7 business days you will receive the stamped postcard dated the date that a rep signed off which that is when the laws apply for the 30 days to get response from the creditor or judgement etc, public record. The bureaus are allow an additional 15 days from the 30 to send you your proof results. Hope that this will get you set for the target you're reaching for.
If the dispute is made based on your free annual credit report, they have 45 days to respond, not 30. This is part of FACTA, the law which gave you the right to the free reports. If you dispute from a purchased report they have 30 days.
