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Friday, February 27, 2009

Do You Need A Credit Dispute Letter

By Kirk B. Mayors

What are some of the reasons you might need to write a credit dispute letter? Well, if you were denied credit, you might wonder why the lender decided you weren't a creditworthy borrower. If you generally pay your bills on time, you don't use up all of your available credit, you have a stable employment history, and you haven't had your vehicle repossessed, then it's most likely a mistake.

You might need to contact the credit bureau over something as simple as a credit card billing error. Or to dispute harassing calls from collection agencies who are trying to collect on expired or invalid debts. Perhaps you need to negotiate for a lower payment schedule, or fight a misleading report that is attached to your personal credit report erroneously. Credit bureaus sometimes make mistakes!

Whatever reasons you may have for writing a credit dispute letter, you should be careful how you go about it. You want to take care not to anger the credit agency. If your letter is successful, you can restore credit far more quickly than you imagined. The thing to keep in mind is that if the information can't be verified, the agency is required to remove it.

Write your letter in business form, but keep it brief, simple and friendly. A lot of personal information is not required. State the facts, send copies of the disputed report, with the questionable items highlighted, and don't in any way invoke hostility by threatening them with legal action or anything else. If you don't anger them, your claim will be handled in a much more efficient and satisfactory way.

When you are ready to send the letter, be sure it goes out by certified or registered mail, and make sure to request a return receipt. The signed receipt will be sent to you so that you have proof that the credit dispute letter was received before the deadline. Also, make sure to keep copies of everything for your records.

Something to watch for is to be very careful when you shop for big ticket items that require a credit card or loan. Do not give your name, address, and other information ? most especially your social security number ? until you are sure you will purchase the item. Otherwise, if you provide your information at multiple places, you might seriously hurt your credit with multiple inquiries for accounts that you never even open!

This can lead to serious credit trouble, since each credit inquiry detracts from your credit score. These inquiries can knock off up to three points each! If your credit score is already on the low side, there are some credit repair techniques that can help you improve it quickly. First, bring any delinquent debts current. Your score will improve right away. Or, buy something with a department store credit card and pay it in full within two payments.

The one thing you definitely should avoid are scams by so-called credit repair companies. The Internet is teeming with them. There are plenty of dishonest lawyers around too. Remember that credit bureaus get your information from many different sources, so there is no easy fix for a bad credit history.

But, when there's been a mistake made on your report, it's in your best interest to write a credit dispute letter. It's not as difficult as you might think, and it can go along way toward restoring your credit.

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