Cleaning Up Your Experian Credit Bureau Report
Step 1 - Get a copy of your Experian Credit Report and look for errors, inaccurate items, undesirable information and/or information that is misleading. Damaging credit items include: charge offs, judgments, bankruptcy, included in bankruptcy, foreclosure, repossessions, wage garnishment, 30, 60, 90, or 120 day late payments, collections, paid collections, settled accounts, public record, or any other information that indicates a late or delinquent payment.
Below is an example of an Experian dispute that worked. Here, Experian deleted a credit card account that had been charged off and sent to collections.
Example of an Experian Dispute That Worked |
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Step 2 - Draft an Experian dispute letter - you will need to provide the name of the items you are challenging. Be sure to state a reason for your dispute as it corresponds to each item. For example, "The NCO Collection Account is not my account..."
Step 3 - Mail your Experian Dispute and Wait for the Results -The Experian Dispute mailing address is:
Experian Credit Bureau 475 Anton Blvd. Costa Mesa, CA 92626 |
Generally speaking, Experian has approximately 30 days to complete its investigation. Following the investigation, Experian must provide you with the results along with an updated copy of your credit report. The updated copy should reflect any changes (if any) occurring as the result of your dispute.
Possible Outcomes of Your Dispute with Experian
Ideally, your goal is to COMPLETELY DELETE any damaging information such as charge offs or collections from your credit report. These items should be removed from your report in to help improve your credit score. A deletion is not always the case.
There are four possible outcomes of your dispute with Experian
- Deleted - this means that Experian has deleted the disputed item. This is the best result.
- Updated - Experian may make a change to the item such as balance owed, date of most recent activity, etc. An updated outcome will only help you if Experian removes the derogatory account information. For example, recently Experian updated a consumer's student loan information from "30 days late" to read "pays as agreed." An outcome like this is rare.
- Remains - this is the worst possible outcome because it means that the damaging item[s] will stay on your Experian Credit Report. Plus, Experian may ignore your dispute should you dispute the same account within the next few months!
- Nothing Happens - Another possible outcome is that Experian will simply ignore your dispute altogether. Experian may have a legitimate reason for ignoring your dispute such as:
- Experian recently completed an investigation into the same disputed information
- You failed to provide proper identification along with your dispute
- You failed to properly state the reason for your dispute, e.g. the account does not belong to you, the account is out of date, you always paid on time, etc.
If you believe that Experian ignored your dispute because of a simple mistake on your part, simply re-send your original dispute letter. You may want to request an expedited investigation in light of the unnecessary delay.
On the other hand, Experian may ignore your dispute for no apparent reason. Many consumers have received letters like the one below where Experian lists off some excuses for ignoring your dispute.
Example of an Experian Stall Tactic |
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Tips for Disputing Bad Credit with Experian
Follow these instructions in order to get the best results when you challenge bad credit with Experian:
- Always dispute bad credit by mail - using the mail creates a "paper trail" and thus makes it harder for the credit reporting agencies to ignore your request.
- Limit the amount of information in each dispute letter - challenge no more than 3-4 items in a single dispute letter. If you dispute more than 4 items the credit bureaus have been rumored to flag your file as somebody engaging in "credit repair." (Thus, they take your disputes less seriously.)
- Write a Clear and Concise Letter - your dispute letter should clearly indicate the negative information along with the precise reasons that the information should be removed from your credit report, e.g. "this is not my account," "the information is out of date..."
FREE Credit Repair Dispute Letter
What to Do if You Lose a Dispute with Experian
If Experian refused to remove the derogatory credit information, DON'T PANIC! There are still remedies available to you. Damaging credit information that "sticks" to your report can be extremely frustrating - especially if you are on a deadline to close on a house, get approved for a new car loan, etc.
However, there are some creative methods of getting the undesirable information off your credit record. These include Debt Validation, escalated dispute/information requests, and/or to intervene directly with the creditor.
These methods are somewhat complicated and are best if executed by a professional. For best results, we recommend The Lexington Law Firm.
Lexington Law has experience deleting negative credit items including: bankruptcy, included in bankruptcy, charge offs, collections, judgments, public record, settled accounts, collections, paid collections, credit inquiries, repossession, garnishment, foreclosure, late payments, liens, and other undesirable items.
**Average Results of Lexington Law Clients** - 28.6 Combined Credit Report Deletions by Month 12
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Start Repairing Your Credit Today - Visit Lexington Law!