Part II: Letters to the Three Bureaus

 Fixing Your Credit for better Financial Wellbeing

In the last article, we discussed sending the validation letters directly to the creditor. In this article, we will discuss sending our dispute letters to each of the three credit bureaus. The method I chose to use was the 609 letters corresponding to section 609 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This section of the (FCRA) is a federal law that protects you from unfair credit and collection practices. The 609 letter is a method consumers can use to request the credit bureaus to remove erroneous and negative items from their credit reports. Section 609 allows the consumer the right to request the information used by the credit bureau and verify that the information being presented is correct. 

The 609 methods are met with a lot of skepticism, especially if you research them online. However, I used this method to remove any negative items from my report, including many collection accounts, and significantly increase my credit score. Now, this is by no means a magic pill, but this will get the disputed ball rolling. If you have followed through with the validation letters from the previous article. You will now want to send these 609 letters at or around the same time you sent the validation letters to the creditor. The 609 letter package will contain the mailing label, the 609 letter, and two forms of ID. which could be one to two pages depending on what you will use for identification. I used a copy of my driver's license and a utility bill for ID which added up to four pages including the label.

After sending out your letters. You now wait about 30 days for a response. You’ll normally receive a copy of your report within 30 to 35 days with the credit bureaus' determinations. In fact, what you are asking them to provide is a copy of the original contract that you signed as verification. However, the reply I most often received was that the account was verified with absolutely no proof. Make sure to review the updated reports being sent to you. This document will inform you of the items they say were verified as well as any items that do get deleted from your report. I personally kept a spreadsheet listing every adverse account I was disputing including the account information from each report as a reference. I then marked each account as unverified or removed after each round of letters was met with a response. If everything you requested an investigation on is not removed. This is where we send out the second round of letters and may need to keep going up to a fourth round. In which case you must decide whether or not to follow through with legal action or at the very least, file a complaint. Also, if the credit bureau just ignores your request for investigation, you may want to file a complaint as well. You will file a regulatory complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) at consumerfinance.gov. Now another route that I took was after the fourth round to just a break for a few months then go at it again starting a whole new round of letters. This worked and I was able to get even more items eliminated. It's completely up to you as to how far you want to take this, but the good thing is you are probably going to at the very least clean up some of the bad marks on your report. 

Since we are only on our first round of letters at this point., we are only referencing our rights under section 609. The next round of letters will legitimately get you started disputing the items in question by invoking your rights under section 611 of the (FCRA). Your second round letter will directly state that this is your second request because they failed to provide proper verification and that under section 611 they are required to delete the items they did or cannot properly verify. The third and fourth letters also add some verbiage pointing out various other sections of the (FCRA). The first letter is simple and basically just invokes your rights under section 609 of the (FCRA). 

Take a look at my sample letter below:

[Date]

[Your Name]

[Address]

[City, State Zip]

SSN: 000-00-0000 | DOB: 1/1/1970

Only use one of the following if you copy and paste each separate letter to the bureaus. These are the addresses of where the letters will be going for each.

Equifax Information Services LLC

P.O. Box 740256

Atlanta, GA 30374-0256

Experian

P.O. Box 4500 

Allen, TX 75013

Trans Union

P.O. Box # 2000

Chester, PA. 19022-2000

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Section 609 (a)(1)(A), you are required by federal law to verify through the physical verification of the original signed consumer contract any and all accounts you post on a credit report. Otherwise, anyone paying for your reporting services could fax, mail, or email in a fraudulent account. I demand to see the Verifiable Proof (an original Consumer Contract with my Signature on it) you have on file for the accounts listed below. Your failure to positively verify these accounts has hurt my ability to obtain credit. Under the FCRA, unverified accounts must be removed and if you are unable to provide me a copy of the verifiable proof, you must remove the accounts listed below.

I demand the following accounts be verified or removed immediately.

Name of Account	Account Number	Provide Physical Verification Creditor

Thank you for your prompt assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

So as you can see with your first round letter template. You need to remove one of the other three-bureau addresses. I only added them for your convenience. Then in the boxes where you list your account information, I have been taught that it's best to use a pen here rather than typing because machines scan these documents. I have not confirmed this to be true so you may type it here if you wish. However, I did fill these in on my own letters using a blue pen and I did get results. Use your credit report to fill in the account name exactly as it is listed on your credit report and for each bureau. Some account names are listed differently in the bureau reports so pay attention to detail. Then list the account number exactly even if it doesn’t have the whole number and just provides a partial with x’s. Finally in the third box just write “unverified” Look at this example:

Name of Account	Account Number	Provide Physical Verification Creditor
Some Credit Card	5555xxxxxxxxxxx	Unverified

• Remember I just typed it here for the example. It may be best to write these using a pen. 

• Don’t forget you will be adding this letter in between the mailing label and your two forms of ID which can be a driver's license, social security card, or a utility bill. These are only three examples you may find others that can be used as well but these are probably the easiest to come by.

• You can have these documents notarized. Some information says this is a good thing to do to make it a legal document. I did not and had success so this is another step that is entirely up to you. 

• DO SEND CERTIFIED MAIL. This is important for tracking and time management so you know how long to give them for review and sending the next round of letters. Also lets you know that the letter has been received and it looks professional.

The above template here is strictly for the first round of letters. I didn’t want to make this confusing so I did not add the rest of the letter samples to the page, If or when you need the second, third, and fourth-round letters. Please use the contact form on my page and let me know what round of letters you would like a sample and I will send you a template. Each round of letters is a bit different referencing different sections of the (FCRA) as well as some verbiage differences, so it is best to use my samples. You can adjust these letters as you see fit so that they meet or fit your exact situation. Good luck with your credit repair crusade and if you have any questions feel free to use the contact form or comments section as well. I will do my best to answer your questions to the best of my knowledge.