When you’re working on credit repair, you might already know what kind of a challenge you’re in for – it’s not hard, exactly, but there can be a lot of waiting and going back and forth with the credit report bureaus regarding your credit report.
The thing you really need to know when you’re embarking on this kind of project is that credit bureaus will routinely try to pull “tricks” to make you think that your efforts have been stonewalled. Heck, type in “credit bureau stall letters” into Bing and see how many results show up! You will see the credit bureaus want you to get impatient and frustrated!
That’s just what these stonewalling attempts are – TRICKS!!! And once you recognize them for what they are, you can push back at them and begin seeing more results.
In a way, it’s like when you ask someone and they don’t want to give you an answer. What do they do? They might try to pretend that they never heard your question in the first place. So what do you do? Ask it again, of course!
Another common and frustrating tactic they try to use is making you think that you’ve done something wrong. You should beware, because the nasty agencies will do this to you if you send a letter you got from the interent. It comes in the form of a “red flagged” notification to you, usually stating that you are making a frivolous claim.
Uuuugh! Yes – you are going to feel as if you’re dealing with small children who don’t want to take responsibility for spilling the Kool-aid all over the place, so make sure you’re on top of your game before you even get started!
Here are a couple of fairly common credit report bureau tricks that you need to be able to recognize and how to fight against them so you get the results you’re really seeking.
Scenario #1: You send your dispute letter and don’t get a response within the necessary 30 days.
Yes, folks, this will happen and it could happen to you. Most of the time, credit report bureaus will try to offer you a timely response but sometimes, they might just pull a stunt like this.
What you should do: Send them another letter after the 30 days and politely remind them that it is their legal responsibility to respond to you within 30 days. Make sure to include a copy of the original letter, any supporting documents such as proof of your identity and a copy of the receipt you got when the original document was received by the bureaus. This should be sufficient to get some action on your dispute.
Scenario #2: The credit report agency says that your dispute is considered to be frivolous.
Here’s the deal: “credit report bureaus” are for profit corporations. They don’t want to spend money and man hours searching the archives to find out if a listing on your credit report is correct or not. So, when you send a letter and don’t know what you’re saying, your letter automatically is given a code and sent off to its “final” destination.
What you should do: You should stop this from happening before you even start the dispute process by making sure that you choose a valid letter form that will make it past all the computers and into a person’s lap, so to speak. By making sure to offer proof that the listing is incorrect, or asking the “credit report bureaus” to check on the listing in the right way, you will be able to stop this from happening to you.
If you’ve just received one of these letters you shouldn’t worry. Just put that dispute aside for 30 days or so and move on to the next one for now. After the 30 days, you can send another dispute letter which you have made sure is specific to your needs so that you get the results you seek.
Scenario #3: They send you a letter telling you that they “verified” the account in question.
Okay, here’s the deal on this silly – no, stupid – letter. It is a stall tactic. The “credit report bureaus” are cheap and aren’t going to waste money checking on your disputes if they don’t have to.
So, they send you a letter in an effort to “stonewall” you so you stop your credit repair endeavors that tells you that the account has been “verified”.
If you’re like me, you’re wondering, “What the h*ll is that supposed to mean?”
What you should do: The first thing you need to know is that this is just a way to make you go away. So, don’t go away, send another letter! The credit bureaus really hate when you do this, so why not have fun with this?
Go ahead, send ‘em a letter telling them that you want to know exactly how the account was verified. It is, after all, your right, so ask for it.
See what I mean? Credit repair isn’t always easy, but when you know what you’re doing it can be efficient and very effective. The important thing here is to not back down. Remember they want you to go away. Don’t give them that satisfaction.
Make the credit report bureaus do their job instead.