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Disputing a debt with a credit bureau

by Stan Burman

Disputing a debt with a credit bureau or bureaus is the topic of this blog post. 

Any debt dispute sent to a credit bureau (CRA) is submitted pursuant to a federal law known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is the topic of this blog post. 

The FCRA was created by the United States Congress through legislation back in 1970 and has been amended several times. The statutes comprising the FCRA are found in Title 15 United States Code § 1681 et seq.

CRA’s are required under the FCRA to 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. The most effective way of disputing any with any of the credit bureaus is through the use of a detailed letter disputing the debt and providing as much information and documentation as possible.

A complaint can be filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by visiting 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 strongly recommend that 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.

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 extremely 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 the filing of a lawsuit should be considered as a last resort and you should be sure that you 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 will result in the case being decided by a judge instead of having a trial by jury.

The most important detail to remember and document to copy and save in a safe place is 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. Almost as 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 see below.

Sample Dispute Letter to Credit Bureau by Stan Burman on Scribd

 

The author of this blog post, Stan Burman, has collected California judgments since 1992, and is a freelance paralegal that has worked in California and Federal litigation since 1995 and created over 300 sample legal documents for sale.

For licensed attorneys and law firms that need assistance with any California or Federal litigation matters, Mr.  Burman is available on a freelance basis. Mr. Burman may be contacted by e-mail at DivParalgl@yahoo.com for more information. He accepts payments through PayPal which means that you can pay using most credit or debit cards.

Do you want to use this article on your website, blog or e-zine? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: “Stan Burman is the author of over 300 sample legal documents for California and Federal litigation and is the author of a free weekly legal newsletter. You can receive 10 free gifts just for subscribing. Just visit freeweeklylegalnewsletter.gr8.com/ for more information.

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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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