Yesterday, I talked to somoene to refinance a HELOC. she looked up my credit and there were things still on our credit that have been paid off, but its hurting us to still have them on there. She told me to call the credit companyies and have them removed and our creidt will go way up. She emailed me several names with emails to address these companies. SO how do I do this?? Do I just email them and say "So and so is payed off, its closed, ect, please remove this?"

AND I only have paper copies, letters from the companies saying we fullfilled our obilgaltion, I don't have a scanner to scan anything in. How do I do this? Any suggestions??

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~Missy~Mommy
Meghan7.Samantha6,Cameron4

Back together!! Sept 28th Boston TDCenter!! Woohooooo!

Do the letters that you received give you any confirmation numbers that you can use as a reference? If not, I would go ahead and e-mail the companies using your closed account numbers. Hopefully you will get a quick response using e-mail and they should be able to give you more information about when they will take it off of your credit report. If they don't respond quick keep e-mailing - the squeaky wheel gets the grease!

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If the account is paid off and closed, it is supposed to drop off of your report automatically after 7 years. I have seen a couple of items that didn't, but that is rare.

As for the HELOC lady (home equit line of credit), if the account is paid and close, it isn't supposed to count against you anyway. It is accounts that are paid off and OPEN that can count against you because that would be considered 'potential charges'.

I would ask for a copy of the credit report that HELOC pulled for you. After all, you're paying for the report so you should get a copy. If they won't give it to you, get your free credit report from the big three reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax and TRW, I think). You're allowed to get one free copy a year from each. Then review everything on the report and dispute any accounts that are on there longer than 7 years. The dispute procedure will be outlined in the papers you receive.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

It's really easy

You’re entitled to a free report if a company takes adverse action against you, like denying your application for credit, insurance, or employment, and you ask for your report within 60 days of receiving notice of the action. The notice will give you the name, address, and phone number of the consumer reporting company. You’re also entitled to one free report a year if you’re unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days; if you’re on welfare; or if your report is inaccurate because of fraud, including identity theft.

Each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — is required to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months.
The three companies have set up a central website, a toll-free telephone number, and a mailing address through which you can order your free annual report. To order, click on annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. You can print the form from ftc.gov/credit. Do not contact the three nationwide consumer reporting companies individually. They are providing free annual credit reports only through annualcreditreport.com, 1-877-322-8228, and Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. You may order your reports from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies at the same time, or you can order your report from each of the companies one at a time. For more information, see Your Access to Free Credit Reports at ftc.gov/credit.
Otherwise, a consumer reporting company may charge you up to $9.50 for another copy of your report within a 12-month period.

You can dispute mistakes or outdated items for free. Under the FCRA, both the consumer reporting company and the information provider (that is, the person, company, or organization that provides information about you to a consumer reporting company) are responsible for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in your report. To take advantage of all your rights under this law, contact the consumer reporting company and the information provider.

STEP ONE
Tell the consumer reporting company, in writing, what information you think is inaccurate. Include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. In addition to providing your complete name and address, your letter should clearly identify each item in your report you dispute, state the facts and explain why you dispute the information, and request that it be removed or corrected. You may want to enclose a copy of your report with the items in question circled. Your letter may look something like the one on page 6. Send your letter by certified mail, “return receipt requested,” so you can document what the consumer reporting company received. Keep copies of your dispute letter and enclosures.

Consumer reporting companies must investigate the items in question — usually within 30 days — unless they consider your dispute frivolous. They also must forward all the relevant data you provide about the inaccuracy to the organization that provided the information. After the information provider receives notice of a dispute from the consumer reporting company, it must investigate, review the relevant information, and report the results back to the consumer reporting company. If the information provider finds the disputed information is inaccurate, it must notify all three nationwide consumer reporting companies so they can correct the information in your file.

When the investigation is complete, the consumer reporting company must give you the results in writing and a free copy of your report if the dispute results in a change. If an item is changed or deleted, the consumer reporting company cannot put the disputed information back in your file unless the information provider verifies that it is accurate and complete. The consumer reporting company also must send you written notice that includes the name, address, and phone number of the information provider.

If you request, the consumer reporting company must send notices of any correction to anyone who received your report in the past six months. You can have a corrected copy of your report sent to anyone who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes.

If an investigation doesn’t resolve your dispute with the consumer reporting company, you can ask that a statement of the dispute be included in your file and in future reports. You also can ask the consumer reporting company to provide your statement to anyone who received a copy of your report in the recent past. You can expect to pay a fee for this service.

STEP TWO
Tell the creditor or other information provider, in writing, that you dispute an item. Be sure to include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. Many providers specify an address for disputes. If the provider reports the item to a consumer reporting company, it must include a notice of your dispute. And if you are correct – that is, if the information is found to be inaccurate – the information provider may not report it again.

For more information, see How to Dispute Credit Report Errors at ftc.gov/credit.

Reporting Accurate Negative Information

When negative information in your report is accurate, only the passage of time can assure its removal. A consumer reporting company can report most accurate negative information for seven years and bankruptcy information for 10 years. Information about an unpaid judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer. There is no time limit on reporting: information about criminal convictions; information reported in response to your application for a job that pays more than $75,000 a year; and information reported because you’ve applied for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance. There is a standard method for calculating the seven-year reporting period. Generally, the period runs from the date that the event took place.

For more information, see Building a Better Credit Report at ftc.gov/credit.

I've had to do this several times over the past few years as well as advise my clients fixing their credit. The best thing to do at this point is ask for a copy of your credit report from the agency that told you about these errors. If you haven't you can use a free credit report site. This will ink you to all 3 agencies (you should check ALL 3 agencies for discrepancies b/c sometimes they do not all report the same things- they are Trans union, Experian, and Equifax). If you do it on line there is a dispute button and it will walk you through the steps. If you choose to do it by mail here is a link to bankrate.coms form letter (It is one of the better ones I have seen) Bank rate.com Read the info as it is helpful and then click on PDF or whatever format you use.
Sometimes contacting the reporting agency is all it takes, but if not, you may need to take further action and contact the reporting Company as well (Capitol One is one off the top of my head, they are FAMOUS for reporting inaccurate info as well as leaving things open on the reports)

HTH!

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Have you been in the Spotlight yet?

What Denvergirlie enter is correct and if I can add this that I get from the mortgage that my husband and I are working with.

Here is the listing where you can write the business letter with the proof paid confirmation letter that will help them to contact the creditors before they could remove any paid from your credit report. If any of those credit bureau don't cooperate and you have the right to submit the complaint letter to FTC.

Equifax Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 105873
Atlanta, Ga 30348
1-800-685-1111
Equifax Personal Solutions: Credit Reports, Credit Scores, Protection Against Identity Theft

Experian Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, TX 75013
1-888-397-3742
Experian | Free Credit Report and Credit Score | Check Your Online Credit Report Today.

Trans-Union Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
1-800-888-4213
1-800-916-8800
1-800-682-7654
TransUnion

Hope this will help you too. I know the furious feeling to remove them from your credit reports