challenging negative items

[jdirilo]

Yeah, I figured that much.
Hopefully I can at least get some of the negative items removed, but I also have a ton of inquiries on.each report. Like 30-40 from car shopping for a fewmonths. Not sure how bad they affect my score since they are supposed to count as one INQ within a two week period.

[RobertEG]

The FCRA dispute processes, either via a CRA or directly with the furnisher, are administrative processes that require the furnisher to investigate the accuracy and make a determination that it is either accurate, or if they agree that it is inaccurate, correct the information.  They are not legal fact-finding processes that resolve contested issues.

In verifying the accuracy, they do not have to provide documentation or "prove" the accuracy.  They must have conducted a reasonable investigation, and conveyed a good-faith determination based on the results of their investigation.  It is basically a request that they review their records and reevaluate the accuracy of their reporting.  To obtain "proof" of accuracy requires compelling them to produce their business records, which can be done by way of bring civil action and pre-trial discovery, or if identity theft is an issue, via the FCRA identity theft process, but not via a dispute.

If documentation were to be required, any documentation or offered proofs that might be provided by either side are likely to be contested by the other side.  It is almost always one-sided, and thus incomplete.  There is no administrative law judge under an FCRA dispute to require all evidence and render a binding determination.  Thus, it is not a process that requires unnecessary production of documtation.

If a furnisher verifies without having conducted a reasonable investigation, or if the resutls of their investigation would lead to a reasonable determination on their part of inaccuracy, and they nonetheless verify the accuracy, they do so at their peril should the matter ever get into court, and their method of investigation comes under scrutiny.

[dddewdrop]

   A lot of the disputes will be verified by eOscar without them contacting anyone else. I initially envisioned the CRAs sending a team of investigators to make a surprise visit to my creditor's office and show up in force demanding to see their records concerning my account and reviewing them with a fine tooth comb. Apparently, thats not really what happens. Most of the time they rely on electronic verification from eOscar. There is a range of techniques that can be employed to attempt to resolve having a negative on your credit report. This website concerns itself with only the most honorable mild techniques such as writing a nice letter to the creditor requesting a good will deletion. There are a range of less friendly and sometimes less legal or gray area techniques which are not discussed on this website.  Imagine, for example what a really expensive lawyer would do for someone to get stuff taken off. They may demand that every detail of every transaction be verified and request so much information regarding every record as required by various laws that it is easier for the CRA to just delete than have to deal with it. Another stance is to write a "crazy" letter where you present yourself as one of those really hard to deal with consumers who really doesn't understand the process but who is angry and not all there and likely litigeous. Other strategies are beyond the scope of this site. The best thing about this site and forum is that it takes the stance that people should handle their business in an honorable way and that is what I believe and that is why I stick with this forum and don't employ the less savory techniques of other site. 

     The system is set up to provide an accurate credit picture of people. It is made for creditors and consumers. Creditors and CRAs have a job to do too and a right to make a living and I want to contribute to the integrity of the system. If everyone with a few bucks or the ability to educate themself can get every negative that is on their report deleted, then the system becomes worthless. If a person made mistakes in the past then they need to accept that and move on. Credit reports are meaningless if people can just remove negative items which are legit. If there is a mistake that it one thing. Myfico is a spot where people from all areas of the credit world can share info. It is not just a spot for consumers to get ahead at the expense of the integrity of the system.

[guiness56]

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@dddewdrop wrote:

   A lot of the disputes will be verified by eOscar without them contacting anyone else. I initially envisioned the CRAs sending a team of investigators to make a surprise visit to my creditor's office and show up in force demanding to see their records concerning my account and reviewing them with a fine tooth comb. Apparently, thats not really what happens. Most of the time they rely on electronic verification from eOscar. There is a range of techniques that can be employed to attempt to resolve having a negative on your credit report. This website concerns itself with only the most honorable mild techniques such as writing a nice letter to the creditor requesting a good will deletion. There are a range of less friendly and sometimes less legal or gray area techniques which are not discussed on this website.  Imagine, for example what a really expensive lawyer would do for someone to get stuff taken off. They may demand that every detail of every transaction be verified and request so much information regarding every record as required by various laws that it is easier for the CRA to just delete than have to deal with it. Another stance is to write a "crazy" letter where you present yourself as one of those really hard to deal with consumers who really doesn't understand the process but who is angry and not all there and likely litigeous. Other strategies are beyond the scope of this site. The best thing about this site and forum is that it takes the stance that people should handle their business in an honorable way and that is what I believe and that is why I stick with this forum and don't employ the less savory techniques of other site. 

     The system is set up to provide an accurate credit picture of people. It is made for creditors and consumers. Creditors and CRAs have a job to do too and a right to make a living and I want to contribute to the integrity of the system. If everyone with a few bucks or the ability to educate themself can get every negative that is on their report deleted, then the system becomes worthless. If a person made mistakes in the past then they need to accept that and move on. Credit reports are meaningless if people can just remove negative items which are legit. If there is a mistake that it one thing. Myfico is a spot where people from all areas of the credit world can share info. It is not just a spot for consumers to get ahead at the expense of the integrity of the system.

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Lol.  Don't you wish?!

[RobertEG]

Yeah, the e-OSCAR process used by the CRAs is a bone of substantial contention, and its obvious limitations are the primary factor that led to the enactment of the direct dispute process as a consumer alternative to disputing through a CRA.

Under the statute, if the consumer disputes through a CRA, the CRA is required to forward "all relevant information" regarding the dispute to the furnisher.

The CRAs have take the position for decades that they have the right to determine what is or is not "relevant information," which essentially boils down to their reduction of a dispute to a three-digit dispute code, with the provision of the clerk processing the dispute to optionally include a short statement.  That info is recorded on their UDF form, and electronically submitted to the furnisher without all the supporting documentation provided by the consumer.  The furnisher then responds in kind back to the CRA with a dispute resolution code.  Hardly the forwarding to the furnisher of all documentation and arguments presented by the consumer, but it is their process for electronically handling disputes.

The direct dispute process, fully implemented for the last three years, permits the consumer to send their dispute directly to the furnisher, thus bypassing all of the CRA schenanigans, and ensuring that all of their supporting documentation and arguments are received by the furnisher and thus considered in their investigation.

Direct disputes cannot be used to dispute public record information, credit inquiries, or consumer personal identifier information.  For all other disputes, I would recommend use of the direct dispute process.