Posts Tagged ‘dispute letter’

I Have a Judgment Against Me Because I Goofed and Now I Need to Remove It!

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

So, one of your creditors had been threatening a judgment against you. Unfortunately, he tired of threatening the action and actually carried through with it. Now, he has been granted a court-ordered judgment against you.

To make matters worse, you just found out that your credit score has taken a nose-dive because of the judgment. Many people do not know that a court-ordered judgment can be reported on your credit history for 10-12 years. If the debt remains unpaid at the end of this time period, often the judgment can be renewed. In fact, even a judgment which has been paid can stay on your credit report for seven years after it is paid!

Now, you would like to remove the judgment from your credit report. You need to be aware that it is illegal for credit reporting agencies to remove accurate entries. There are only two ways an entry can be legally removed from a credit report. The first way is to prove that an item is inaccurate. The second way is to dispute the item and, if the creditor cannot verify the item within a legally specified time frame, the credit reporting agency is legally required to remove the item. Items which consumers believe are false can be disputed pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Included in the FCRA, are judgment and public record items.

You will need to draft and submit a dispute letter to the appropriate credit reporting bureaus if you decide you would like to dispute a judgment which appears on your credit report. There are three major credit reporting bureaus. These three bureaus are TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. To whom the credit reporting bureau will forward the dispute will depend upon what kind of debt is involved. For instance, a dispute for a car loan judgment could be forwarded to a loan company, bank, car dealership, etc.

Unlike car loans and credit cards, judgment and public record information is located in governmental buildings and maintained by county personnel. In light of this, a judgment dispute will be forwarded in most cases to the county courthouse in your county. As humans verify this type of information, as opposed to fancy software programs, it normally takes longer to verify this type of dispute and, in many cases, the verification is not able to be completed within the specified time frame of 30 days. When this happens, the credit reporting agency, by law, must remove the judgment entry from your credit report.

It is possible for you to move forward with credit repair on your own. However, if you do not have the time or if you just don’t enjoy wrangling with credit reporting agencies, you might consider speaking to a consumer rights attorney. The typical consumer rights attorney has tackled hundreds, and maybe even thousands, of similar cases.

Learn how to Remove a judgement. Discover the only legal way to remove any questionable credit report judgement at www.creditreportjudgement.com.

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Removing a Repossession

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

People usually become emotionally attached to their belongings. This is just human nature. So, when these things are taken away, it brings about emotional fallout. When someone’s vehicle is repossessed, they normally will feel their freedom has been taken away. Likewise, when a home is repossessed (foreclosed upon), the owner may very well feel the loss of family memories. Another form of emotional let down is when you finally realize the enormity of the situation as related to your credit score, which will immediately free fall!

Though you may feel like this is the end of the world, rest assured that it isn’t! Things will get better. I can’t help you get your vehicle or any other item back once it’s been repossessed; however, I can help you understand how to begin rebuilding your credit. To start, you will need copies of your credit reports. You can obtain these from the three major credit reporting agencies – TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Upon your request, these three major credit reporting agencies are legally required to provide you with a copy of your credit report every twelve months.

Once you have all three credit reports in hand, schedule a little time to review and compare all three credit reports. Repossessions normally have associated fees, such as storage and towing charges. These related charges will be listed on your credit report along with the repossession itself. After reviewing your credit reports, you should gather together all of your repossession receipts and compare them to the fees listed on your credit reports. All amounts listed on your credit reports must be reported accurately. If they are not reported accurately, you can dispute them with the credit reporting agencies.

If your credit reports contain inaccurate information, dispute letters can be written and mailed to the credit reporting agencies to try to have the negative entry removed. When writing your dispute letter, you should include the reason you are writing as well as a request that the repossession entry be deleted from your credit report in its entirety. When you mail your dispute letter, make sure that you include a copy of the appropriate credit report and that you highlight the inaccurate information. You should include copies of any substantiating documentation, such as receipts, with your dispute letter. Further, you should always keep copies of all correspondence you send to the credit reporting agencies, as well as copies of any enclosures.

Upon receipt of your dispute letter, the credit reporting bureaus have 30 days to verify the repossession entry. The credit reporting bureaus will contact the creditor and attempt to verify that the information reported on your credit report is accurate. If the creditor cannot verify this information, for whatever reason, within the stated time frame, the credit reporting bureaus must by law remove the entry. A letter should be sent to you by the credit reporting agencies which explains what action was or was not taken and why. A repossession entry, if not removed, will remain for seven years on your credit report.

In the event you are unable to remove your repossession entry using a dispute letter, you might be able to have the entry deleted or its status improved by negotiating directly with your creditor. A promise of partial payment or payment in full might persuade your creditor to delete the repossession entry. You should insist on a written agreement if you and your creditor are able to come to terms. Additionally, make sure that you obtain your creditor’s signature on the document and that you sign as well.

Although repossession can be devastating, it is something you can recover from. Times are tough and you are not alone in this plight. Just remember that there are better days ahead!

Learn how to remove a repossession. Discover the only legal way to remove any questionable credit repo at www.repocredit.net.

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