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"I never ordered it". If you showed an initial interest in a product or service, such as a promotion, trial basis, direct mail offer, or solicitation, but did not actually sign a contract. Billing you for it would be improper .
./ "I was charged an improper cancellation fee". An example would be canceling a cell phone service, paying everything that you were owed, but then being assessed a cancellation fee that was never disclosed .
./ "I don't even know who this company is". There are rare cases in which the credit reporting service has flatly made a mistake and has you down for a delinquency from a company that you have never dealt with. In most cases, however, the name that appears on the credit report is a collection agency you may not recognize, although you did in fact incur the bill. You need to call that company. tell them your name. and find out who the original creditor was .
./ "I was double billed", These are cases in which you ordered the product or service. but got charged more than you had originally requested. An example would be ordering two bottles of vitamins for $50.00 but getting shipped four bottles and charged $100.00 .
./ "I never got the discount I was promised". This is a case in which you order the product but they told you it came with a discount or additional free material which never came. As a result you have refused to pay for it and it is now showing as delinquent on your report. Using the vitamin example above, this would apply if you were told that the purchase of $50.00 worth of vitamins would also come with free skin care products. you never received them, and so refused to pay for any of the product. This usually involves a long standing dispute, with letters and phone calls back and forth, but never having been resolved .
./ "I have an improper finance charge or interest assessment". You have been religiously sending in your payments and have verification either by certified mail or a FedEx receipt, but the creditor always claims it comes in late. Because of that creditor's disorganization, selling to another company, or other causes, it always seems you are hit with a late charge. Bear in mind that many companies make a lot of their money by assessing late charges and so they're rather zealous in claiming them .
./ "I was the victim of misrepresentation". An example would be agreeing to sign·up for a credit card under an introductory offer that said the interest rate would never exceed 12%. When you receive the card and read the fine print, it turned out it was 18%. You tried to cancel but were assessed a fee .
./ "I paid it, but it's not showing up", There is nothing more disconcerting than paying off a creditor and then finding out that they in turn did not report this to
Page 4
©2008 NationalLienLaw.com. All rights reserved. (925) 899·8449. Y!!l.,;j}.:!.DJ.l.l!.!!:;!)iA!i~!,l,),~lU.\;.l)L~.;l':,.'J'.m. Revised 2/08
the credit reporting service. The best approach is to issue a strong demand letter to immediately report the payment and if this is not forthcoming, bring the small claims action .
./ "This was included in my bankruptcy". All delinquencies included in a bankruptcy that has been finalized and discharged can be deleted from your credit report. Such creditors are usually listed in a schedule F (if you filed a Chapter 7). You will know you have been discharged because the last paper you receive from the bankruptcy court is called the Order of Discharge. If you used a lawyer, many times they have a standard letter sent to the credit reporting services demanding all such items be deleted. If this hasn't been done, you can write your own letter followed up by the small claims action if nothing is done.
Sometimes a credit reporting service keeps the delinquency on the report with a statement it has been discharged or in another section of the report simply list bankruptcy as a matter of public record. You should demand that it be taken out of the report completely .
./ "I paid this before it went into collection". This is in cases in which you paid the original creditor everything they wanted and later it went into collection anyway. You shouldn't have to deal with a collection agency when the obligation has already been paid .
./ "This is an old account that should be taken off the report". By law, derogatory credit can stay on your report only for certain periods of time: bankruptcy, ten years after the discharge date (Fair Credit Reporting Act Section 605(a)(1)), civil judgments, seven years after entry of judgment (605(a)(2)), paid tax liens, seven years from payment (605(a)(3)), charge-offs or collection agencies, seven years (605(a)(4)), other delinquent accounts, seven years (605(a)(5)) .
./ "A second collection agency has reported a delinquency after the expiration date". Assume you have an account that went to collection in 1997. Seven years later in 2004, it was taken off your report. Suddenly in 2005, it was assigned to a second collection agency which re-entered it and put it down as an obligation that became due in 2005. This is illegal lire-aging" and you should have it immediately removed.
Examples-Little Chance to Win in Court
You can't expect to be successful in court by simply disputing everything that you
would like to have off your report. There are simply instances in which nothing can be done.
On the other hand, some people take the position of "why not give it a chance?", especially
./ "I was charged an improper cancellation fee". An example would be canceling a cell phone service, paying everything that you were owed, but then being assessed a cancellation fee that was never disclosed .
./ "I don't even know who this company is". There are rare cases in which the credit reporting service has flatly made a mistake and has you down for a delinquency from a company that you have never dealt with. In most cases, however, the name that appears on the credit report is a collection agency you may not recognize, although you did in fact incur the bill. You need to call that company. tell them your name. and find out who the original creditor was .
./ "I was double billed", These are cases in which you ordered the product or service. but got charged more than you had originally requested. An example would be ordering two bottles of vitamins for $50.00 but getting shipped four bottles and charged $100.00 .
./ "I never got the discount I was promised". This is a case in which you order the product but they told you it came with a discount or additional free material which never came. As a result you have refused to pay for it and it is now showing as delinquent on your report. Using the vitamin example above, this would apply if you were told that the purchase of $50.00 worth of vitamins would also come with free skin care products. you never received them, and so refused to pay for any of the product. This usually involves a long standing dispute, with letters and phone calls back and forth, but never having been resolved .
./ "I have an improper finance charge or interest assessment". You have been religiously sending in your payments and have verification either by certified mail or a FedEx receipt, but the creditor always claims it comes in late. Because of that creditor's disorganization, selling to another company, or other causes, it always seems you are hit with a late charge. Bear in mind that many companies make a lot of their money by assessing late charges and so they're rather zealous in claiming them .
./ "I was the victim of misrepresentation". An example would be agreeing to sign·up for a credit card under an introductory offer that said the interest rate would never exceed 12%. When you receive the card and read the fine print, it turned out it was 18%. You tried to cancel but were assessed a fee .
./ "I paid it, but it's not showing up", There is nothing more disconcerting than paying off a creditor and then finding out that they in turn did not report this to
Page 4
©2008 NationalLienLaw.com. All rights reserved. (925) 899·8449. Y!!l.,;j}.:!.DJ.l.l!.!!:;!)iA!i~!,l,),~lU.\;.l)L~.;l':,.'J'.m. Revised 2/08
the credit reporting service. The best approach is to issue a strong demand letter to immediately report the payment and if this is not forthcoming, bring the small claims action .
./ "This was included in my bankruptcy". All delinquencies included in a bankruptcy that has been finalized and discharged can be deleted from your credit report. Such creditors are usually listed in a schedule F (if you filed a Chapter 7). You will know you have been discharged because the last paper you receive from the bankruptcy court is called the Order of Discharge. If you used a lawyer, many times they have a standard letter sent to the credit reporting services demanding all such items be deleted. If this hasn't been done, you can write your own letter followed up by the small claims action if nothing is done.
Sometimes a credit reporting service keeps the delinquency on the report with a statement it has been discharged or in another section of the report simply list bankruptcy as a matter of public record. You should demand that it be taken out of the report completely .
./ "I paid this before it went into collection". This is in cases in which you paid the original creditor everything they wanted and later it went into collection anyway. You shouldn't have to deal with a collection agency when the obligation has already been paid .
./ "This is an old account that should be taken off the report". By law, derogatory credit can stay on your report only for certain periods of time: bankruptcy, ten years after the discharge date (Fair Credit Reporting Act Section 605(a)(1)), civil judgments, seven years after entry of judgment (605(a)(2)), paid tax liens, seven years from payment (605(a)(3)), charge-offs or collection agencies, seven years (605(a)(4)), other delinquent accounts, seven years (605(a)(5)) .
./ "A second collection agency has reported a delinquency after the expiration date". Assume you have an account that went to collection in 1997. Seven years later in 2004, it was taken off your report. Suddenly in 2005, it was assigned to a second collection agency which re-entered it and put it down as an obligation that became due in 2005. This is illegal lire-aging" and you should have it immediately removed.
Examples-Little Chance to Win in Court
You can't expect to be successful in court by simply disputing everything that you
would like to have off your report. There are simply instances in which nothing can be done.
On the other hand, some people take the position of "why not give it a chance?", especially
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