Did You Know? You Have Credit Repair Credit Rights!

If you feel that any information in your credit report is inaccurate, obsolete, or unverifiable, you have legal credit repair rights to dispute these items with the credit bureaus and creditors and have it removed. These are the negative items in your credit reports that are giving lenders an unfair impression of your true credit risk. The Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Credit Billing Act and the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act grant you the legal right to petition erroneous data in your credit file so you can repair bad credit marks.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act promotes the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of consumer reporting agencies. There are many types of consumer reporting agencies, including credit bureaus and specialty agencies (such as agencies that sell information about check writing histories, medical records, and rental history records).

Some of Your Rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

You have the right to be told if information in your file has been used against you. Anyone who uses a credit report or another type of consumer report to deny your application for credit, insurance, or employment – or to take another adverse action against you – must tell you, and must give you the name, address, and phone number of the agency that provided the information.

You have credit repair rights to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. If you identify information in your file that is incomplete or inaccurate, and report it to the consumer reporting agency, the agency must investigate unless your dispute is frivolous. Consumer reporting agencies must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information. Inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information must be removed or corrected, usually within 30 days. However, a consumer reporting agency may continue to report information it has verified as accurate.

Consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information. In most cases, a consumer reporting agency may not report negative information that is more than seven years old, or bankruptcies that are more than 10 years old. If outdated information is being reported you can repair bad credit marks with the reporting agency. States may enforce the FCRA, and many states have their own consumer reporting laws. In some cases, you may have more rights under state law. For more information, contact your state or local consumer protection agency or your state Attorney General.

The Fair Credit Billing Act gives people who use "open end" credit accounts the right to dispute fraudulent and unfair credit charges. This law does not apply to installment contracts (loans) or debit cards.It establishes procedures for resolving mistakes on credit billing and account statements. It requires that a credit card company promptly credits your payments and corrects mistakes on your bill without damage to your credit score. It also lets you dispute billing errors on your credit card and withhold payment for damaged goods.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

The FDCPA is a federal law that protects consumers from unfair or abusive debt collection practices. It dictates how and when a debt collector may contact you and what the debt collector can say to you. It also gives you the right to force debt collectors to leave you alone.

Know Your Rights

Right to Notice of Debt: Within 5 days of first contacting you, the debt collector must send you a letter telling you: the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor, information about what you can do if you think there has been a mistake or you don't actually owe the money. You have thirty days from receipt of this letter to dispute the debt.

Right to Dispute the Debt: Within 30 days of receiving notice of the debt from the debt collector, you can send a letter to the debt collector disputing the debt and requesting the name and contact information of the original creditor. The debt collector must stop all debt collection activities until it can "verify" the debt

Right to Verify the Debt: A debt collector verifies the debt by giving you enough information about the debt so that you can tell whether you actually owe it.