subject: Effective Credit Repair Dispute Methods [print this page] Getting Started on the Right Foot Getting Started on the Right Foot
Your credit repair project should start with a great user-friendly credit report. Credit reports are not all the same, and a crummy report will make your job ten times harder. The free reports that you can get each year, although adequate for a cursory review, are not conducive to a thorough credit repair review. Spring for a good tri-merged report; they are available directly from the bureaus for around twenty dollars.
Take No Prisoners
Once you have your reports in hand, take no prisoners. Every error should be identified and added to your list of issues to dispute. Do not limit your credit repair to the obvious derogatory items. If it is worth doing it is worth doing right, and every inaccurate item is a candidate. Even the little innocuous reporting boo-boos can cause score damage. Do not pre-judge, take your time and locate every error.
Get Right to the Point
Now it is time to write your letters. It may be helpful to your credit repair project to visualize a vast room full of people lined up at tables opening dispute letters. The dispute processors are given only seconds per letter to decipher the essence of your problem, translate it into a two digit code and enter it into their computer terminal. Do not tell a story. Write clearly, be succinct, and get right to the point. Be respectful of the system for the best results.
Use Bureau Specific Identifiers
When you write your letters, in addition to being spare and precise, it is also important to identify the disputed items in a very clear manner. Each of the bureaus uses unique identifying information, usually some truncated form of your real account number. Do not use your actual complete account number and do not use one bureaus version for another bureau dispute. The processors need to match the list of accounts on your letter with your report. Make it easy on them.
Plan on Some Repeat Efforts
Oh well, your first dispute letter got rejected, verified, or returned with a request for more information or better identification. This is not the end of the world. It is a fact that credit repair and patience go well together. The bureaus are swamped with these requests and there will always be processing failures. Just chill out and re-send your dispute. Expect half of your letters to meet with a sad fate. But victory will be yours. Persevere and prevail.
Try a Good Service
In the final analysis, credit repair matters. The results of your effort will have a bearing on your financial life. It is about real dollars and cents. It is important that the job be done well and completely. If you cannot handle it, you should hire a professional service. A reputable service should cost about fifty dollar a month and manage the entire dispute process on your behalf, from the initial letters to the ongoing follow-through. In addition, the best of the breed will give you all of the counseling your need to optimize your scores in the most effective manner.
Copyright 2010 James W. Kemish. All Content. All Rights Reserved.
