Credit report types

[Anonymous]

Hello all, 

I have been lurking for a few weeks now and have been reading everything I can every spare moment.  I've been neglecting my credit and some old collections for too long and I need to get busy on straightening things out.  I have many collections and I'm so horrified I'm going to end up with a judgment or make things worse for myself, but I guess I'd rather be proactive!

I've sent out a round of disputes to the CRA's and while I was waiting, I decided to register with CCT because now I'm obsessed with this whole process and I want to know my scores and any other reported activity immediately!  I feel crazy!

Do you ever use the reports that you get from CCT (or any other monitoring/report service) to dispute something?  Or do you really have to get a report straight from the CRA's?  I only sent my disputes out on 5/31.  I haven't even received green cards back yet,  The info on the reports from CCT is a bit different from the free reports I got from annualreport.com that I based my disputes on. 

I also read that you should not use a free report to base disputes on, but does that refer to the free annual reports?  

How often do you guys who are disputing things actually pay for a new report from a CRA?  Or do you just work off of updates ones they send you?  

Would you ever apply for a CC you know you will be denied for just for the free report?

I hope thiese questions make sense.  If you can think of any other information regarding this topic that I'm too ignorant to ask, please fill me in!  I really want to learn and understand as much as I can. 

TIA!

[Anonymous]

What are the basis of your disputes?

[Anonymous]

There were quite a few tradelines with inaccurate, incomplete information.  Some of the tradelines have conflicting info from one CRA to another.  Is that normal?  My letters were probably too vague, but it was my first try, so I was just hoping for some beginner's luck. I definitely didn't want to include anything that would back fire and do more damage.   I disputed one as wholly inaccurate.  It's just not mine.  I also disputed a couple of bizarre addresses that popped on there. 

[RobertEG]

There is no requriement under the FCRA that any dispute must include a copy of a credit report.

Inclusion of a copy can help assist in identification of the information under dispute, and show that it was in fact reported to the CRA.

The key is that your dispute include sufficient information to identify the inaccuracy so that it can be investigated.

Free annual reports obtained via annualcreditreport.com come directly from the CRAs, and are as good as it gets.  They are specifically sanctioned by the FTC and mentioned within the FCRA itself.

General assertions that do not identify a specific inaccuracy can be basis for dismissing a dispute as "frivolous or irrelevant."