First let me say how inspirational it is to see folks taking charge of their financial information. I'm a long time lurker on the board and have recently started the process of correcting questionable items on my credit reports. There were four 30-day lates reported, one 60-day late (closed by credit grantor - thanks First USA) as well as numerous inquiries, a couple of duplicate records, and a couple of accounts that I'd never heard of, so it was time to get to work. My first round of letters went out September 25 - Trans Union and Equifax via fax, Experian via their website. About a week later I received a letter from TU that they had received my letter requesting investigation and would let me know the results. Experian has already deleted one of the inquiries that I've disputed and the others are pending. Nothing yet from Equifax. Obviously the most damaging item is the 60 day late First USA - but I thought I'd tackle the easier ones first. When the results start coming in I'm going to go after the FUSA tradeline. The account was paid off through a balance transfer and then closed by FUSA before I could close it myself. Do any of you folks have advice about how to dispute this item? Should I contact the creditor directly to see if they would change the closed status and take off the 60 day late? Or should I go through the CRA and ask them to verify the information on the account and try to run out the clock or hope that the CRAs will delete. Any advice would be appreciated! db
TRY ANY WAY YOU CAN... I got rid of AMEX BLUE (NOT MY IDEA) by disputing that the credit limit was missing... EXPERIAN removed the entire account...luckily it will come back, SO AMEX SAYS. IF CRA DOESN'T WORK, TRY THE CREDITOR... The CRA will say "YOU HAVE TO CONTACT THE CREDITOR" The CREDITOR says "YOU HAVE TO CONTACT THE CRA" By wife had two accounts "CLOSED BY CREDIT GRANTOR"...told the CRA it MUST be changed to "ACCOUNT CLOSED BY CONSUMER"...the CRA changed one and deleted one...
