Credit bureau debt disputes using the Fair Credit Reporting Act are the topic of this blog
post. Credit bureau (CRA) debt disputes are submitted under the provisions of a pursuant to a federal
law known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) found in Title 15 United
States Code § 1681 et seq. The FCRA was
created by the United States Congress through legislation back in 1970 and has
been amended several times.
The FCRA requires that any CRA who has received a debt
dispute letter must conduct "a reasonable investigation" into the
disputed information and remove anything they can't verify as accurate.
Equifax, Experian and Transunion are popularly known as the “big three” CRA’s. It is my personal opinion that the most
effective way of disputing any debt with the credit bureaus is through the use
of a detailed letter disputing the debt and providing as much information and
documentation as possible along with the letter.
A recently created federal agency
known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accepts complaints at their
website at http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
in the event that any CRA does not properly investigate or does not respond to
repeated dispute letters sent by a consumer.
I cannot stress enough the critical mistake that some
consumers make by submitting their debt
dispute to a CRA either online or over the telephone. NO consumer should ever submit any debt
dispute to a CRA either online or over the telephone as in most cases they will
not have the opportunity to include enough information. It is true that Equifax,
Experian and Transunion all prominently feature on their websites that you can
submit your dispute online or over the telephone and it sounds much more
convenient, however I strongly recommend that you submit any debt dispute
through a detailed letter sent by certified mail, return receipt requested to
all of the CRA’s that are reporting inaccurate or obsolete information on your
credit report.
Credit bureau debt dispute letters should be at least one
full page if not more and should state in detail the fact as to why the
information in the credit report is inaccurate as well as containing copies of documents
that support the claim of inaccurate information being reported. Do NOT
send original documents to the CRA in any case as you may never see them again.
It is also very important to keep several copies of the debt dispute letter and
all documents that were provided for your records.
A lawsuit can also be filed against any CRA although in my
personal opinion the filing of a lawsuit should be considered as a last resort.
Consumers should be sure that they have copies of not only the debt dispute
letter but all of the attachments that were sent along with it. The reason for this is that in the event that
you fail to provide the CRA with a detailed explanation of the dispute they may
simply respond to any lawsuit by claiming that they are not liable as they did
not receive adequate information to investigate the dispute.
Anyone who disputes a debt with a CRA should ensure that
they save multiple copies of ALL evidence that could be used in court to prove
that they have been damaged. The consumer
submitting the evidence should also include documentation that there is a
factual disagreement about what happened to their debt dispute or
disputes. If you fail to save all of the
evidence supporting your claim the CRA or the furnisher of the information may
file a motion for summary judgment which could result in the case being decided
by a judge instead of having a trial by jury.
The most important procedure to remember and to document is to
copy and save in a safe place the certified
mail receipt that shows that the CRA received the debt dispute letter as the
big three CRA’s are notorious for consistently losing or at least claiming to
lose correspondence from consumers. Also important are any letters detailing
all denials of credit that have been received as those are proof that a
consumer may have been damaged by errors in their credit report.
Consumers should also be sure to include enough information
in their debt dispute letter to make sure that the CRA or the furnisher of the
information has copies of all documents relevant to the dispute for their
review. They may not conduct a reasonable investigation of your dispute but at
the very least you will be have proof that you sent the documents to them.
Consumers should also keep in mind that many CRA’s are
somewhat unlikely to use the evidence provided to investigate any complaint. The advantage of providing as much evidence as
possible is that this will make it much harder for the CRA to later claim that
the error is the fault of the consumer because they did not provide adequate
information.
Another letter along with all relevant documents should also
be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested to the furnisher of the
information to ensure that the furnisher of the information cannot later claim
that that the error is the fault of the consumer because they did not provide
adequate information.
Although there are exceptions a CRA can be held liable under
the FCRA for reporting negative information more than seven (7) years old and
any bankruptcy more than ten (10) years old.
In most cases a court judgment can be reported for no longer than ten
(10) years or the statute of limitations for enforcing a court judgment in the
state where the judgment is entered which may be more than or less than 10
years depending on the particular state where the judgment was entered.
Another issue to watch out for that should be properly
disputed is what is known as re-aging of debt. This happens because debt
collectors will often sell accounts to one another and occasionally they will
report an inaccurate time causing the debt to be reported longer than it
should.
Attorneys or parties
that would like to view or download a FREE 3 page debt dispute letter to all
three credit bureaus created by the author of this blog post can use the link
shown below.
View over 300 sample legal documents for sale
The author of this blog post, Stan Burman, is an entrepreneur and freelance paralegal who has worked in California and Federal litigation since 1995 and has created over 300 sample legal documents for California and Federal litigation.
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DISCLAIMER:
Please note that the author of this blog post, Stan Burman is NOT an attorney and as such is unable to provide any specific legal advice. The author is NOT engaged in providing any legal, financial, or other professional services, and any information contained in this blog post is NOT intended to constitute legal advice.
The materials and information contained in this blog post have been prepared by Stan Burman for informational purposes only and are not legal advice. Transmission of the information contained in this blog post is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, any business relationship between the author and any readers. Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.
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