The epidemic of home foreclosures, higher gas and food prices have stretchered the average consumers budget to the max. According to Trans Union and Equifax, national credit scores are steadily dropping at a higher rate than they have seen in the last decade. As a result of the lower credit scores large ticket items, like homes and automobiles, have began to slow down fueling the current recession. At Direct Banc, we thought a few credit bureau repair tips might be in order, here are the steps we recommend consumers follow.

1. Become Familiar with your Credit Report - Having a credit bureau in hand is essential if you are serious about credit bureau repair. There are three major credit reporting repositories (Experian, Equifax, Trans Union), each reporting their own version of your credit. It almost certain that each of their reports will differ from the others. For this reason, you should get a 3 in 1 credit bureau report before you begin your credit bureau repair.
2. Validate all Negative remarks – We suggest that you send a validation letter to every creditor or collection agency that is reporting negative information about you. Send these letters BEFORE sending a dispute letter to the credit repositories. Creditors/collection agencies are required to validate the legitimacy of your debt and their relationship to the debt. If they are unable or unwilling to answer your request for validation, the credit repositories will likely remove the remark.
3. Dispute Invalidated Items to the Credit Repositories - Wait 30 business days from the time sent the creditors a letter of validation.  Once this time frame has passed, you can send a dispute letter to EVERY credit repository showing proof (certified letter receipt) that the collection agency failed to respond to your request. This will usually result in the removal of the remark.
4. Stop the Collection Agencies from harassing you –Once you are back on the collection agency’s radar, they will most likely begin to actively collect the debt. We all know how annoying that is; all you need to do is send them a “stop harassment” letter that basically tells them to leave you alone while you are working on the debt.
5. Dispute Valid Debts with The Credit Repositories – As we mentioned earlier, collection agencies have to prove that you owe the debt to the repositories. Even though you may actually owe the debt, or deserve the negative remark, some agencies are unable to back it up. If you send a dispute letter to ALL of the repositories requesting an investigation the collection agencies are compelled to answer them.  If they do not answer the repository in a timely manner, or they offer unsatisfactory proof, the remark must be removed.

This list is just a partial explanation of how to thoroughly repair your credit bureau. We have a tutorial underway at Direct Banc that will give you a detailed, step by step break-down of credit bureau repair. We also list a comprehensive assortment of pre-written sample credit repair letters that are free to download to help you with all of the validations and disputes.

Keep in mind when attempting credit bureau repair, the credit repositories are your friends, being rude or disrespectful to them will not help your situation. The collection agencies, not so much, it’s best to deal with them by mail. Remember to send ALL correspondence certified, return receipt mail; it’s worth the two bucks. Keep all receipts and letters, you WILL need them in the future when the collection agencies sell your debt to penny brokers.