Questions about repair options

[Anonymous]

Okay, I was discharged in a Ch. 7 in March of '08.

Now I'm trying to clean up my credit reports and man, they are all full of totally wrong information.

First question:

Is it always better to dispute in letters (snail mail) rather than online? Experian and TU let me dispute everything right online and I figured "I'll go for it and then if it doesn't work out I'll dispute by letter from here on in". Is that a good plan of attack?

Equifax, on the other hand only lets you dispute by mail, so I'm preparing a letter to them.

My questions about disputing:

For example, I have one account showing OPEN even though it was clearly discharged in the bankruptcy. But they are so wrong, they show me as having a $6000 line of credit OPEN and NO missed payments on that account. So I am wondering: Is it better to dispute it and say it was included in BK (which is the truth) so I show no open line of credit which I don't really have access to? Or is it better to dispute it and show a zero balance which is the truth?

Problem is myfico shows that I have "too many lines of credit" when in fact I only have one $305 limit credit card and one $1000 line of credit with my bank. So I wonder if it's worse to show $6000 line of credit which I don't really have open, Or to show it as included in bankruptcy (along with 8-9 other accounts included in bankruptcy and 8-9 others with positive payment history never included in BK.)

Also:

My accounts with Equifax and others sometimes show the account as OPEN but "Included in Bankruptcy". This is obviously wrong, it can't be both, or at least is not both. Should I dispute that they are Open even though they also say "Included in bankruptcy" or leave them alone?

And:

I have one account that shows it was Charged Off, but I don't believe it was charged off before I filed bankruptcy. To my knowledge it was never Charged Off. How do I get this removed? Can I write the cc and make them prove it was charged off and when? How do I get this charge off removed? Also, it still shows a BALANCE on all my credit reports! How can it be charged off AND show a balance?

I swear, many of these mistakes on my credit reports are just asinine in their illogic. How can something be Open AND Included in Bankruptcy, or Charged Off AND show a balance??

Please advise. Thank you for your time and effort.

[llecs]

If you were to disoute you can dispute online with all 3. Mail is better CMRRR. If you were disputing as "not mine", you can't include a copy of a police report online. Or if you were disputing a late, you can't include a copy of your payment or statement showing you weren't late. Or is you paid a baddie, you can't include the copy of the check online either.

If the LOC is open with a $0 balance, then I'd leave it and not touch it.

FICO will flag you if you have 30 or more accounts. This has been discussed before and I haven't seen any score hit due to too many accounts. I wouldn't worry. It seems to be a fluke.

If the acct is open and included in BK, then I'd leave as is. It is helping you.

You can have an account both CO'd and still showing a balance; DW and I had 3 of them up through yesterday (one deleted!). It will continue to report that way until it is sold off. I can't speak to the BK, but all else is reporting OK. It may be the the balance must change to $0 after BK, but I don't know enough to comment. Again, not speaking to the BK, you can always offer a PFD to get it removed. If it is a CC, it could be impacting utilization, not to mention any lates.