Urgent Help Needed! How do I CLOSE old disputes that are still open?

[helaurin]

I'm in panic mode.  I applied for a mortgage - all my scores are over 700 - so I thought I'd be okay. Mortgage company called me back and said they can't give me a mortgage because I have old open disputes, and all disputes must be closed first.  The mortgage company uses a service (Kroll ?) to get a combined credit report, so they couldn't tell me which disputes were open at which credit bureau, so I would need to contact each bureau.

These disputes are several years old and should have been closed long ago.  All three disputes were because the accounts had been paid in full and I had asked them to close them but they had remained open on my credit reports despite being paid in full (one was a mortgage, which was paid off when I refinanced with a different lender; another was a second mortgage, also paid off at the same time; and the other was a store credit card).  These disputes were from the 2004 - 2006 time frame; the accounts were all closed, but somehow the disputes remain open.

When I heard this, I found numbers for each of the three credit bureaus and called them. One said they had the disputes open, I asked them to close them as resolved, and they said they would be closed before Monday 12/21/2009.   The other two agencies said they did not have any open disputes on my files and that there therefore no disputes to close.

I got a message last night from the mortgage company - they repulled my credit again - and the open disputes are still there!  Due to Fannie Mae rules, the mortgage company will not be able to give me a mortgage unless I get this resolved fast. 

My purchase agreement requires I get a mortgage commitment by 12/31/2009 and close on January 15, 2010, so time is of the essence. I am currently renting the house I am attempting to purchase, and if I can't get a mortgage, the owner will put the house back on the market and I'll be without a place to live.

Who do I need to contact to get these old disputes closed?  Why on earth would these disputes have remained open for several years?

Please help!

[Anonymous]

Either call the credit bureau and tell them you have not disputed this account, or go online and file a dispute online. They usually will remove the dispute comment within 24 hours if you ask.

[helaurin]

I called (it was Equifax) and was told that they had closed the disputes the day I called. However, they were still showing up on the credit pulls.

The mortgage company is using a third-party company to pull reports... and now I found out because they've had to pull the reports to much, my score dropped seven (7) points. 

Unfortunately, that moved me into a lower rating band, and now it will cost me $1,180 MORE to close the loan - all because Equifax never closed the disputes that should have been closed years ago!

Do I have any options?

[RobertEG]

CRAs are required to complete the dispute resolution prrocess within 30-days of filing of the dispute (FCRA 611(a))(1)(A)), and to provide you, within 5-days of the completion of the investigation, a wirtten notice of the results.  FCRA 611(a)(6)(A).

If the CRA investigation is not completed with the 30-day period, FCRA 611(a)(5) requires its deletion.  Your old disputes should be resolved and gone.

Under FCRA 611(a)(8) you can request the CRA to provide written notice of this deletion to anyone you designate who has accessed your credit report in the last two years.

So you unquestinably have grounds for getting this cleared up.  I would get on the phone with a knowledgable supervisor at the CRA, and, armed with the statutory bases I have provided, get them to delete, and to send immediate notice of deletion of the disputes to your lender.

[Anonymous]

How come EQ takes 45 days if the law is 30?

Just curious!