By Chuck Machado

I’m asked all the time about credit reporting agencies, especially the big three: Equifax, Transunion and Experian.

The biggest surprise to most people is the manner in which these companies generate money. Do you know that they sell your information? That’s right. They sell consumer information through subscriptions by creditors. Consider this-your bank and credit card company are customers of these large and very powerful companies.

Does that explain why it is so hard to dispute credit reporting errors? It may be one reason, then again it may be that the credit reporting agencies are simply overwhelmed with requests for disputes. When they are forced to investigate a reporting claim, they have to hire more and more people to research this information. More people means it costs money.

Fortunately, our rights are firmly in place. You and I are protected by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) which requires an investigation whenever a consumer notifies the credit reporting agency that there may be an erroneous mark on a credit report. Once received they have thirty days to investigate.

If the information cannot be verified within that time period, it must be deleted from your credit report.

This means you should learn to write a dispute letter. We have sample dispute letters at our website, but they are easy to draft.

Another question I get is how do Credit Repair Companies claim to remove these items from credit reports, even when they are not erroneous. It might seem unbelievable, but this is the main manner in which many of these companies operate.

They jam the disputes down the throats of the Credit Reporting Agency until it is impossible to keep up–impossible to answer and verify disputes within the thirty day time limit. At that point these disputes are removed as required by law.

You may be celebrating and jumping off your bean bag chair, but wait…what happens when the account is re-verified? What happens next month and the month after? Granted, there is the possibility the account will be forgotten,never again to be verified by the creditor, but how about the ones that are revived? I know they’re not supposed to resurrect themselves, but I’ve seen them come back to life.

My advise…do it the right way which doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. You can do this yourself–this disputing and fixing of credit. The Avail Credit-Coach is an unbelievable online credit program and although it isn’t marketed as a repair program, it gives you the ability to dispute errors with the click of a button. The program even composes and addresses the letter for you. All you have to do is print, sign and mail. Make sure you always mail certified, return receipt.

How much is the Avail Credit-Coach? Only, $199 and besides getting a copy of all three credit reports with scores, you get a computerized simulator telling you how many points you would gain by paying extra or eliminating debt. Then if you are so inclined, you can have the computer figure out a debt elimination plan. You can play with the numbers-adding income or taking away as you project months ahead.

I like the idea of knowing exactly what’s in my credit report. This helps insure that I’m not going to be the victim of identity theft. My clients with FICO sores as high as 800 are using this and of course many who are trying to rebuild their credit are also gaining points…and it’s only $199!

About the Author: Chuck Machado is with the commercial finance company

CMA Capital Funding Inc

, located in Southern California. He writes extensively about loans, debt, and commercial financing. If you have questions or comments, he encourages his readers to contact him through his website http://www.raise-credit score.net

Source:

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