CRA dispute

[Anonymous]

I had a derogatory line in my report.  I asked them what this is about.

They have sent me a letter saying that it was an error and the the CRA will be notified and that it will take 30-60 days to update.

I am in the process of disputing with experian.  Dont know if others have the same bad info.

Question is :

1)  Can I do it online or is it better to do it via a letter.

2)  I prefer Online since it is faster and hopefully easier to track.  Can I submit the scanned letter indicating this is a mistake ?

3)  Is it better to wait for the 30-60 days for the CRA to update ?

Thanks

[llecs]

If an OC or CA sent you a letter saying they'll delete, then give them at least 30 days before doing anything. Some only update once per month.

Disputing now can drag the process out even longer.

[Anonymous]

The CA sent me the letter.

Can you elaborate on why the process will drag longer ?  Is it because they will keep alive till they keep it alive for their investigation ?

I am looking to close on a house and need to resolve this asap else I will pay higher rates or not be approved.

Is it better for me to call the CRAs - I got the report only from one of them - should I call the others too ?

Thanks

[llecs]

When did you receive this letter?

It could drag on because disputes will often take 30 days to resolve themselves. The CA may opt to not send anything to the CRAs and let the CRA drop the account themselves. That'll take 30 days plus the mail time from when you mail the dispute with a copy of the letter. At least 35 all together.

If the CA updates every 30 days, and you already received the deletion letter, then you'll have a better chance of getting it removed faster by doing nothing. One thing you may want to do is search in here for the CA name. Look to see if others ever received a similar letter and look to see if that CA held up their promise.

Calling them to talk about the baddie will result in a dispute. That's won't do you any good if you don't send the CA's letter. If you don't have the other two reports, I'd suggest pulling them. You can get them for free once a year via annualcreditreport.com. If buying a house, I'd also suggest pulling your two FICO scores from here to see where your scores stand. It'll never hurt your report to pull your own reports and FICO scores.

[Anonymous]

The CA is AFNI and seems to be quite famous.  I got this letter dated Aug 13.  The letter says it can take as much as 60 days for it to be deleted. 

So far I have seen two replies hence my original question.  I see some say dispute it and AFNI may not respond and hence CRA will delete automatically (after 30 days).  Another is as you say do nothing and it will go.

The second one implies that CA will stick to their words and actually send a deletion letter to CRA.  I am not sure if I can trust them after the way tey screwed my history.  My score now is 677.

If I understand it right :

option 1 = Dispute CRA and include the content of the letter CA sent about deleting it

                # of days = 30  ->  Online wont need to wait for delivery and is free

option 2 = Do nothing and trust in afni to update CRA.

                # of days = 60 ->  Chances are 50% they will update.

Is option 2 still better ?  Thanks

[llecs]

I'd do option 3: E-mail the CA. Thank them for agreeing to delete. Include a scanned copy of the letter. Ask them for an ETA for deletion. Maybe mention that you are looking to buy a home.

W/ Option 1, you'd have to mail it vs going online. I don't think there's a way to send a copy of the letter via their website.

IMO, the 30-60 day mention is standard for them. I got the same for a Nextel baddie and AFNI told me that it would take up to 60 days. It was deleted within a week.

[Anonymous]

llecs -  Thank you very much for all the info you have provided.

The way I understand the CRA/dispute process is that the CRA sends a mail to the data provider i.e CA who have to verify it.  So CRA doesnt really care for what I send to them even adeletion letter.

Maybe I will call the CRA and see if they can give an ETA.

Also, why doesnt my score get back to normal after deleting it ?  I believe it goes up gradually.  I have no other collection/late charges - any idea, (if this is resolved) how long will it take to go up 100pt ?