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I used to have 13 negative items on my credit report. Now I’ve got just 1. But that one negative item has been impossible to get off my report! So what to do when you’ve already disputed a negative item and it won’t come off? Well let’s get down to it.

By the way, in my previous post on ways to fix your credit report I discussed how I had been able to remove all but one negative item from my credit report, how you could duplicate it, and my situation. If you haven’t read it yet I’d strongly recommend reading it first because it discusses a necessary step for what I’m going to discuss here to work.
Click Here to read my first post on fixing your credit report.

As stated in my previous post, this information is based simply on my own experiences and by no means should be confused as financial advice. Just throwing my thoughts out there guys.

Here’s a hypothetical situation and I’m going to cover the whole process so you know what actually happens. Let’s say we’ve got a guy named Shade and he’s got 3 negative items on his credit report. He’s disputed the items he believes to be inaccurate and has had success having all the disputed items removed except for one. He has a XYZ credit card that is reporting he was 60 days late on his payments but Shade is pretty sure he was never late. He started out by writing a dispute to the three major credit unions, Equifax, Transunion, and Experian. The three credit unions then contacted XYZ credit card company asking if the negative item they’re reporting is in fact accurate. XYZ verified the information they were reporting to the unions and the three credit unions in turn replied to you that the item was verified. What to do now?
Well as stated in my previous post, repetition is essential. You’re playing a numbers game with the unions. They receive thousands upon thousands of disputes every day and getting them all verified in 30 days or less is difficult. To be totally honest, stubborn items can take a year or more to get off your report. Sometimes they’ll never come off no matter how many times you write them. Don’t get discouraged though because usually they will come off.

Shade writes the three credit unions again, using the form shown in my previous post, vehemently stating that the negative item XYZ is reporting is incorrect. What’s different is that this time he ALSO writes a letter to XYZ credit card company notifying them that they are reporting negative and inaccurate information to the credit unions. It should look similar to the dispute written to the credit unions. Here’s an example of what Shade wrote but you can tweak it if you like.
———————————-
Your Address

Their address (It should be listed on your credit report.)

Date

Dear Sir/Madam:

This letter is a formal complaint that you are reporting inaccurate and incomplete credit information on my credit report.

Can you you please investigate the following information and either remove the negative item from my report or at the very least send me the information that you used to add it to my report. Furthermore I formally request a copy of my signature on the contract. If you cannot verify this item the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires you to remove the negative item and notify the credit unions immediately that this item has been inaccurately reported and to correct their respective reports.

Place the credit card company name you’re disputing here and the last four digits of the account next to it.
Also include here the negative information they are reporting, in this case, that shade was late in paying his bill by 60 days.
And here write very briefly why you believe the information they’re reporting is inaccurate or incorrect.

Thank you,

Name

SSN#

—————————-
You’ll notice a few things different about this letter. In this letter Shade wrote directly to XYZ credit card and asked them not only to verify the negative item but ALSO to provide him with a copy of his signature on the contract. The cool thing here is that many times your contract has been transferred to microfiche or some tape drive in the third basement down. Point being, it’s hard for them to get to and can take time. I would also recommend sending the above dispute via certified mail either some of the time and preferably all of the time. This way you have PROOF that you sent it on a certain day. (You’ll need this later.)

What Shade is trying to do is write the three major credit unions AND XYZ credit card company enough so that eventually one or all will not be able to get back to him in 30 days or less. If a credit union doesn’t get back to you in 30 days or less, write them and send a copy of the letter you wrote before as proof. It’ll come off. But that would leave the other two credit unions still reporting the negative item. That being the case Shade is gonna want to continue writing the three credit unions but focus on the company, in this case XYZ credit card company, that’s actually reporting the negative item. By that I mean sending the disputes to them via certified mail and more often than the three unions. Do NOT write another dispute until you’ve received a reply from your last one and always remember to update the date on your next letter!

Unfortunately this is the best way to remove those “Hard to Get Off” items from your credit report. One last thing, I stated above that if a credit union or company is late getting back to you, “… It should come off.” If it does not, or you believe you have an overwhelming amount of evidence to show that no matter what they’re saying you did, you have evidence to the contrary, then there is one other way to get that item off but recommended conditions apply.

Click Here to read: Fix Your Credit Report III - Take them to Court

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