The second step toward credit score repair is the CHALLENGE PILLAR, where we file disputes for your behalf with the credit reporting agencies with bulldog determination and unyielding tenacity.
The first thing to know in the Challenge Pillar of Credit Disputing is the three major credit reporting agencies, which are:
There are other credit reporting agencies in the industry, such as:
These agencies collect and maintain financial information on all consumers in the United States and report on your spending and payment habits.
These reports are then used by a variety of lenders, most significantly banks and credit card companies, to determine a consumer’s creditworthiness. These reports help determine everything from your credit score to loan allowances and interest rates.
Each agency produces its own report, based on the information they independently collect. While most of this information remains the same across the agencies, there are still some differences. These differences mean that each agency’s report may be very different, creating confusion and mistakes.
Why Credit Report Agencies are Different
The reason for these differences is because one credit agency may be capturing unique information that the other two are not, or maybe looking at the same data uniquely.
Furthermore, it should be noted that lenders, collection agencies, and court records supply information to agencies, not the other way around. And even more bizarre is that not all your information may not be reported to all three agencies. In the case of public records, representatives of the credit reporting agencies obtain the information to report.
Suppose you applied for credit under different names (for example, Jennifer Smith versus Jen Smith) or a maiden or previous name. In that case, it could cause fragmented or incomplete files to show up at credit agencies, or not show up at all. Another person’s information may end up being filed under your name, or vice versa.
Regardless of the reasons, this can result in incomplete or erroneous information on your credit report. Even if the information is the same across agencies, it does not prevent incorrect data from being present.
This is where we step in!
Getting your credit report fixed can be a time consuming and detail-oriented process. To reduce stress for you and allow you to enjoy the important things in life, disputing credit reports should be left up to the professionals. Once we step in, here’s how we go about making sure there are no more errors on your credit reports:
✅ Identify Errors
First, we identify the incorrect information on your report, which is done during the Check Pillar. This means combing through your report carefully to find every error.
Some commonly reported incorrect information that shows up on credit reports includes:
✅ Gather Verifying Evidence
Once we have identified the errors, we contact you to gather evidence showing that the report’s information is wrong. This evidence depends on what mistakes have been identified. For example, if there’s an error with your address, you will be asked to provide recent utility bills or a driver’s license to confirm your actual address.
✅ We Send Credit Dispute Letters
Once documentation has been gathered, we draft and send out a letting disputing the credit report. These are detailed letters that address every error on the report and the verifying documentation.
Each letter is tailored to one of the credit agencies and is based on individual errors. This means that, if necessary, we will send out three credit dispute letters – one to each of the credit report bureaus.
✅ Allow Time for Investigation
Legally, each credit report agency has 30-45 days to respond to our credit dispute letters, though this is not always true nor accurate. They must respond with written notice of their conclusion.
Once your credit report is corrected, you will also receive a copy of the new report.
✅ We Follow Up
Because creditors or companies may not respond to the credit disputes, they may fall by the wayside, especially if they are older paid collections. By hiring us, you make sure that you have someone in your corner who will continuously follow up on your disputed credit report and make sure that the agencies respond, to know what we have to work on or not.
This kind of tenacity also means that we will escalate the matter if necessary, including filing a formal complaint against the creditor.
Final Thoughts
By hiring Ipsan West, you gain the peace of mind of having professionals take care of all your credit report concerns. We do the heavy lifting and deal with the credit bureaus directly, allowing you to spend your time taking care of the important things in your life.
We prioritize what negative items to tackle first based on how much the item affects your total credit score. One derogatory item can drop your score tremendously.
We keep the communication going with the credit reporting bureaus. As they mail new reports, you then send them to us for analysis.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act provision allows us to dispute inaccurate items on your reports. We challenge any reporting that does not meet the act’s guidelines.
We dispute again should the item reappear or not be adequately removed. We send more dispute letters until it’s resolved.
Because bureaus have time to investigate your claim with the data furnishers (i.e., lenders and collection agencies), if we don’t hear back, we follow up by phone.
As things are cleared, we notify your lenders and creditors so they can make adjustments toward your more favorable credit score.
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