Many consumers often inquire about removing late items, collections, charge-offs, and generally all things negative from their credit report. While it’s not always possible to completely erase items from your credit report, there is a loophole that allows those with imperfect credit to remove a negative credit rating. It’s a simple, organic way to perform self credit repair, with little work and no cost involved.
There is a little known rule in place that allows consumers to write to the credit bureaus to dispute any negative credit rating that shows up on their credit report. This rule is intended to allow consumers to challenge creditors if they feel any information is being reported in error on their credit report. It means credit ratings aren’t written in stone, and there is wiggle room when it comes to removing negative items from your credit report.
If you feel that something is reporting in error on your credit report, simply write a letter to one of the three credit bureaus, whether it be Equifax, Experian, or Trans Union. If the original creditor doesn’t respond to your inquiry within 30 days of receiving notice of your inquiry, the credit bureau will take the side of the consumer, and the negative credit rating will be removed from your credit report. Regardless of whether it was indeed late or derogatory, the negative item will removed from your credit report for lack of a challenge or response from the issuing creditor.
This process is similar to the loophole surrounding traffic tickets where showing up to court in the hopes that your arresting officer doesn’t will cause the court to waive the ticket regardless of fault.
Many consumers don’t know about this credit loophole, and many pay so-called credit experts to complete this credit repair for them at a premium. While credit repair companies can be useful, this is one credit repair fix you can manage to complete on your own with little knowledge of how credit works.
If the original creditor fails to respond to your inquiry, the negative item will be removed from your credit report and you’ll likely see a double-digit point gain to your credit score. The other two credit bureaus should update their information accordingly as well. One thing to note is that is does take time, so you should act as soon as possible to get negative items removed. The process can take several months to complete, and even longer before it is reflected in your credit score.
This credit repair tip is definitely worth a shot as it costs no money and requires little effort beyond writing a brief letter and licking a stamp.
Learn more about how to execute a credit report dispute.
