Illegal

No one can legally remove accurate and timely negative information from a credit report. The law allows you to ask for an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as inaccurate or incomplete.

There is no charge for this. Everything a credit repair clinic can do for you legally, you can do for yourself at little or no cost. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act Yes, surprising as it may seem, it really is this simple to find the most valuable information you’ve been looking for on Credit Repair – How to Deal with A Credit Bureau.

Credit repair starts with finding out which credit bureau holds your file. To do this just examine any rejection letter from a credit application – the letter, in denying you credit, will show which bureau proved the rating. The next motion is to obtain your credit history.
Keep in mind that legally it is always free to obtain your credit history if you have recently been denied credit, although many organizations will try and convince you that it is not. The only time you should ever pay money for a credit report is if you want it instantly, in which case credit bureaus will provide a quick online report for a price.

When dealing with a credit bureau, understand that they are in the business of collection and selling information. For this reason, it is in your interest to never provide them with any information that is not legally necessary.
Legally, you only need to provide a credit bureau with your name, social security number and home address in order to obtain your credit report. The bureaus may request a copy of your social security card, and – if the address they have on file is different from your current one – a copy of something proving your address.

Although they may ask for a drivers license as proof of your address, send them a copy of a bill showing your address. The reason you want to be cautious when dealing with credit bureaus is that they own many collection agencies, and if you have a credit problem you want to give them as little information as possible with which to harass you with.

Pay close attention to detail here. This is a great strategy in helping to fix your credit.

Once you have received the report, examine it closely for any errors. If anything is in question, send a written request for an investigation to the credit bureau. Legally, the onus is on the credit bureau to document anything on your credit report.

– if they cannot document it within 30 days, it must be removed. This is the basic strategy of many credit repair companies that charge exorbitant fees: challenge everything negative. In many cases if the negative item is more than a few years old it will be difficult to verify and the item will be removed.

By learning to smartly deal with a credit bureau you can engage in effective credit repair that other companies charge big dollars for. By educating yourself as to the legal obligations of the credit bureau, you can, in many cases, repair your own credit quickly and effectively.