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A clean credit report for less
than 50 bucks?
Dear Dollar Diva,
I found a credit repair company that is offering a system for removing
items, such as bankruptcy and charged off accounts, from credit
reports for $49. It says that a top credit attorney produced the
system and cites the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Are there legal
ways to get negative information off a credit report?
The Diva is going to break the question into three
parts:
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Where can I find information about credit
reports?
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How do I get negative information off my
credit report?
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What about the Fair Credit Reporting Act?
Where can I find information about credit reports?
Although your credit report does not say whether you
are a good credit risk or a bad one, the information it contains
can often make a case for or against you. Some of the items reported
are:
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Personal information -- birth date, current
and former addresses, current and prior jobs.
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Debt information -- current balances, remaining
credit available, whether accounts are current or past due and
collection activity, such as repossession or charge-offs, tax
liens or bankruptcies.
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Other -- a list of companies that have requested
your report.
The three major credit-reporting companies are:
Depending on circumstances and where you live, it
will cost from zero to $8 for a report -- and the Diva recommends
that you get a copy so you know what Big Brother is saying about
you.
How do I get negative information off my credit
report?
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If the information is true? There
is no way to get negative information off your credit report
if the information is true, and it is not outdated.
If you filed bankruptcy last year, no one
-- no system, no lawyer, not even Siegfried and Roy -- can get
it taken off. Not for $49, or $490, or $4,900. As a general
rule, a negative report stays on your record for seven years;
a bankruptcy for 10 years.
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If the information is false? The
credit reporting company has to support the information it has
on you. No support -- no black mark. So ask to see it. If the
support is erroneous, write to the company with which you originally
did business. Send it copies of any documents you have supporting
your position, and request that it send corrected information
to the credit bureaus it reports to.
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If there's a dispute over the accuracy
of the item? You have the right to include a statement of
as many as 100 words in your report to explain your version
of the disputed item. This will be included in reports provided
in the future.
What about the Fair Credit Reporting Act?
| Scammers often imply that the Fair Credit
Reporting Act gives credit repair companies the ability to remove
current negative information from your credit report regardless
of its accuracy. That simply is not true! |
The credit reporting companies make mistakes -- oodles
of them. So many that there is a 50/50 chance that there's a mistake
on yours. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to challenge
the reports, and have them corrected if they're wrong.
The Federal Trade Commission's Web site presents a
concise summary of your rights under the act, written in language
that's easy to understand.
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-- Posted: Nov. 1, 1999
DOROTHY ROSEN has a master's degree in finance, with a specialization in accounting,
from the Kellogg Graduate School at Northwestern University in Evanston,
Ill. Rosen has more than 15 years of experience in the financial arena, serving
in Illinois and Florida as a certified public accountant, financial consultant,
expert witness and educator. She is owner of Dorothy Rosen, CPA, a public
accounting firm that serves individuals and small businesses.
