Removal of Duplicate Posts for Same Account

[Anonymous]

I have a US Dept. Of Education account that shows up twice on my credit report (1)shows up as Dept. Of Ed and another shows up as (2) US Dept. Of Ed.; both have the exact same account open date, the exact same amount the student loan was for but because one is under the account name and the other is under my SSN it's reported twice on my report. I have tried fighting the duplicates with both the 3 Credit bureaus and the US Dept. of Ed. for the last few months but they all continue to say everythings fine...which it's not. I have found out that one office within the Dept. of Ed handed it to another office within the Dept. of Ed.

The credit bureaus tell me to talk with the Dept. of Ed. and Dept. of Ed tells me to dispute it with the credit bureaus. I'm stuck in a circle. Is there anything i can do to fix this?!!!

[llecs]

Is there anything negative about either account like lates (aside from maybe age)?

How do these accounts compare with your average age for your other TLs? If older and free of any baddies, then I would do nothing. It would be helping. In fact, if you remove one, your score would drop in that scenario. However, if younger, then removing one would help.

If you choose to remove, then I would dispute one via mail.

[Anonymous]

They are both represented as derogatory, collection/charge-off, $0 balance on all 3 credit agencies, (1) shows up reported 1/2004 and (2) shows up 12/2003. Like i've told both the Credit agencies and US Dept of education i'm not denying that one of these is legitimate but is it right of it to be posted on a credit report  twice by the same company for the same account?  What or who can correct a creditor that continually reports the wrong information as accurate? 

[llecs]

You definitely want one removed. I'd gun for the one that says 1/2004; its only a month but every little helps.

I would dispute via each CRA, not online but via mail CMRRR if you haven't done so (by mail). I would include a copy of your CR from that CRA circling the account you want removed. Include in your letter that this was a duplicate account that you want one removed. I would also include an old bill copy showing the account number. Sometimes the CRAs are slow and you need to drill things to their head.

If you did this, then I'd send a MOV if you recently disputed.

[Anonymous]

Sorry i'm a newbie could you explain what CMRRR and MOV mean?

[llecs]

Check out the abbreviations page and Credit scoring 101 stickied somewhere.

CMRRR - certified mail return receipt requested

MOV - method of verification. If you didn't mail your dispute CMRRR you'd need to do it again. If so, include a copy of the green card from the CMRRR and a copy of the dispute back to the CRA. Basically you are insisting that the CRA tell you by what means they verified the information. In my opinion, some say that doing this is a legal right. However, I disagree and haven't seen too many success stories with a MOV. There are sample letters in here for the MOV somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for all your advice. I'll get right on it.