If you have been concerned about your credit score lately (haven't we all?) you've probably heard of something called a credit bureau.
Credit bureaus (also called credit reporting agencies) are the folks who will collect, store and maintain financial information about you or your business. They typically focus on a customer's payment patterns and any other publicly documented events such as a foreclosure or a bankruptcy.
There are three major agencies that report on consumer credit:
Experian
Equifax
Trans Union
A big part of repairing your credit is contacting these credit bureaus and requesting that they remove any errors and outdated information that might be negatively affecting your credit score. Now, you may think it most efficient to call them on the telephone, but there are some definite disadvantages to using this method.
1. It is more difficult to prove what happened over the telephone conversation than what happened in writing. You have to document every detail of the call and ask the representative to summarize the conversation back to you.
2. Even if you are careful to be crystal clear, the representative you speak with may misunderstand some details of what you say and you may be unpleasantly surprised to find more errors replace the ones you were trying to fix!
3. You want to have a paper trail in case you ever have to take legal action against a credit reporting company.
So that means good old snail mail is the best opti on at this time. When you send a letter, ALWAYS send it certified mail and request a return receipt. This will serve you as proof that the agency actually received the documents that you sent. Plus, you may then hold them accountable for acting within the legal timelines in the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Normally you should only have a 30 day time frame to get a response to a dispute. If you have not heard from them by that time then by all means send a follow up letter and maybe a phone call in addition to that.
Ready to send your letters? Here is where to send them: Credit Bureau Contact Information
Mia Vollaire draws upon her experience as a former employee for a credit repair firm to bring you the latest free tips about fixing your credit score. Start now by visiting the new free credit repair blog.
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