Exactly how does disputing work?

[Anonymous]

I have a student loan that reports as late, but has actually been sold to another company. The original loan servicer (Aspire) no longer services student loans and Mohela has taken over their accounts. I called the number my CR listed for Aspire and it actually rang to Mohela. The very nice woman in their credit department advised that since Aspire no longer has the services my loan, if I dispute the acct with the CRAs, Aspire may not be able to verify any information as accurate or not.

My question to y'all is: Is that how this works? I have only disputed things once or twice and that was some time ago and with the guidance of a friend. If this is true, having this account removed altogether would be fantastic (13 lates...buh bye!)

[Anonymous]

Hi DCDoubleK, 

      That's a wonderful question! I just disputed a couple of items in Nov 2015, and I'd be happy to explain how disputing works. You can dispute either online or via mail. If you dispute online, you would select the account you are disputing, then you would be given a list of options; they inlcude: no knowledge of account, late payments incorrect, etc. The categories are really broad. Anyways, when you select the account and reason, the Credit Bureau has 30 days to investigate. They usually send an eletronic communication to the creditor asking if the information is correct, and they (the creditor) either says yes or no, then the response is provided to you as "verified" if they sy the account is correct, OR if the Credit Bureau has no answer wihtin the 30 day timeframe, the account (or the exact info you are disputing) is deleted and removed from your credit report. Typically, you only need to dispute with one bureau, and if the disputed info is removed from that bureau, the creditor must also alert the other bureaus to remove the info. And when there is a company change or change in servicers, there is a *high* possiblilty that all records were not transferred, thus preventing positve verification. I onced helped a family member dipsute a collection account this way, and it was removed relatively quickly - less than a week. I am sorry for the long-winded answer, but it is a bit complex to answer in one sentence. :-) YMMV. Please keep us posted!!!!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi DCDoubleK, 

      That's a wonderful question! I just disputed a couple of items in Nov 2015, and I'd be happy to explain how disputing works. You can dispute either online or via mail. If you dispute online, you would select the account you are disputing, then you would be given a list of options; they inlcude: no knowledge of account, late payments incorrect, etc. The categories are really broad. Anyways, when you select the account and reason, the Credit Bureau has 30 days to investigate. They usually send an eletronic communication to the creditor asking if the information is correct, and they (the creditor) either says yes or no, then the response is provided to you as "verified" if they sy the account is correct, OR if the Credit Bureau has no answer wihtin the 30 day timeframe, the account (or the exact info you are disputing) is deleted and removed from your credit report. Typically, you only need to dispute with one bureau, and if the disputed info is removed from that bureau, the creditor must also alert the other bureaus to remove the info. And when there is a company change or change in servicers, there is a *high* possiblilty that all records were not transferred, thus preventing positve verification. I onced helped a family member dipsute a collection account this way, and it was removed relatively quickly - less than a week. I am sorry for the long-winded answer, but it is a bit complex to answer in one sentence. :-) YMMV. Please keep us posted!!!!

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No need to apologize! That was pretty much what I was looking for. Thanks! I'm online at Equifax and their system seems to be having a slight panic attack, so I'm going to try Experien's online form. Hopefully 1.) this dispute works in my favor and 2.) the removal has a significant, positive impact on my report and score.

I'll update as things progress.

Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

No problem! I'm happy to help. I hope it goes well too! :-)

[RobertEG]

First and foremost, before you begin, what is the information that will be the subject of your dispute, and how is it inaccurate?

What information do you have to support your contention that it is inaccurate?

If your dispute is of the accuracy of specific information, such as the current balance, then resolution of the dispute would not involve deletion of the ientire account..The CRA can update as you assert in your dispute, or the furnisher can report an update to the CRA.

Deletion is only mandated if either the accuracy as reported cannot be verified, or the information cannot be corrected so as to overcome the asserted inaccuracy.

A dispute that does not identify a specific inaccuracy in reported information can be dismissed with no need for any reinvestigation by the CRA.

It is imperitive to first identify as specific inaccuracy, and describe how it is to be corrected.

[Anonymous]

RobertEG wrote:

First and foremost, before you begin, what is the information that will be the subject of your dispute, and how is it inaccurate?

What information do you have to support your contention that it is inaccurate?

If your dispute is of the accuracy of specific information, such as the current balance, then resolution of the dispute would not involve deletion of the ientire account..The CRA can update as you assert in your dispute, or the furnisher can report an update to the CRA.

Deletion is only mandated if either the accuracy as reported cannot be verified, or the information cannot be corrected so as to overcome the asserted inaccuracy.

A dispute that does not identify a specific inaccuracy in reported information can be dismissed with no need for any reinvestigation by the CRA.

It is imperitive to first identify as specific inaccuracy, and describe how it is to be corrected.

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The choices of reasons for disputes varies among the CRAs. Generally speaking, I requested verification of the information included and one of the CRAs (TU, I think) had a "disputing entire account" type of option (I'm paraphrasing). The point being, the old loan servicer no longer has the account info or a way to verify any of the information. Having said that, I realize it may not be super ethical, but the company is essentially closed (as far as studen loans are concerned) and they are still negatively affecting my credit. It's reporting as "late / open" on at least one CR and that is incorrect.

ETA: I actually tried to call the company no longer servicing the loan. I called the number listed under the account on my CR. It rang to the current servicer. None of the contact info on that entry in my report matches the creditor. It matches another creditor completely and that creditor has no access to the previous creditor's records, files, etc.

[RobertEG]

Then your asserted inaccuracy is that the account has not been updated to "Closed"?

If the delinquencies occured in the monthls reported, then there is no basis for a dispute of their accuracy.

[Anonymous]

I'm 1 for 3 so far! Just got a notice that the account has been removed from TransUnion! Haven't heard back from the other 2, yet. I am encountering problems with the Equifax site. I will likely have to do a dispute with them, as opposed to the creditor removing/correcting automatically, since the company is not reachable and likely doesn't even know that I have submitted a dispute in the first place.

[redneck18]

I've seen several posts mentioning issues with EQ dispute page. I had same issue while using Firefox. I switched to IE and it worked fine, although not terribly fond of Internet explorer but thought I would throw that out there.

[MrsCHX]

I can't remember the dispute reasons I used now but I successfully had duplicated Student Loan accounts removed on Equifax that were reporting as negatives under the initial servicer.