Credit Repair Do’s & DON’TS!!

Hey Brian, 

Once a negative item has been deleted from your report how long does it take for your score to go up?  If a bureau has not replied within 45 days a reinvestigation via mail is it true that those items have to be deleted by law. I hired a credit repair company and she said to just pull a new report in which they have not made any changes. Responding via mail means nothing the USPS can be slow. 

What are your thoughts? Please advise?  I always thought they had to be deleted because of no response isn’t that true?

Thank-you Kindly!

Diane

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Hi Diane,

I’ve itemized my answers with your questions below;

Once a negative item has been deleted from your report how long does it take for your score to go up?

Once you have received proof from the bureau showing the deletion, technically, your score should already be improved.  If you pull your report from that same bureau the deletion should already be reflected.  Typically with third party credit providers the credit information is updated only once every 30, 45, and 60 sometimes only every 90 days.  This is how they make money off you with the Rapid Rescore.  

If a bureau has not replied within 45 days a reinvestigation via mail is it true that those items have to be deleted by law.

The timeline for a response from the bureaus being 30-45 day rule is a myth; the law actually states “a reasonable amount of time.”  They purposely utilize stall tactics and a defense strategy of attrition and delay.  In other words, the credit bureaus invest time and money to develop a system that intends to dissuade disputes from being successful.  They have received fines from the FTC for these actions but they just consider it a “cost of doing business” since the fines don’t outweigh the profits.  I believe I have even read something about how on the FTC complaint Line the credit bureaus have their very own extension. 

“For credit bureau complaints press 1, for all others press two.”

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I hired a credit repair company and she said to just pull a new report in which they have not made any changes.  Responding via mail means nothing the USPS can be slow.

Handling the disputes via mail actually is the best and most typical way to handle correspondence with the bureaus as the online dispute system is just about worthless.  Disputing online means they DON’T forward your dispute to the creditor, they DON’T supply you with written proof and results, and they DON’T supply you with (even with an official request/demand) the process of verification. 

I’m hoping it was explained to you by your credit repair company that the dispute process is exactly that, a process not an overnight fix. 

I always thought they had to be deleted because of no response isn’t that true?

Not exactly, but close.  It all comes down to whether or not the negative item is meeting the requirements outlined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other various laws designed to protect consumer rights.  If they don’t, or they aren’t verified within “a reasonable amount of time” then by law they must be deleted.

If you have already gone past 45-50 days from when your credit repair company has drafted letters and you haven’t received any results then you should call their client support line and have them issue out another round of demand letters.  If they won’t, give me a call.

I hope this helps,

Brian C. Aber
Senior Account Executive – HTDI Financial
Charter Board Member – National Association of Credit Services Organizations
brian@htdifinancial.com
877-877-4834 x704