The Better Credit Blog

Removing a chapter 7 bankruptcy from your credit report can be a very painful process (as you would imagine), but it is possible to do if you follow these steps. First, keep in mind that this may or may not work. As I have stated in previous articles, your individual situation will ultimately be the main determinate. Nonetheless, if you didn’t just file, this has a much better chance of working.

The first thing you need to do is dispute the bankruptcy with ALL 3 of the credit reporting agencies. See my article on the best way to do this here. If you’re lucky (extremely lucky), they will be unable to verify it and the bankruptcy will be removed. This is the best case scenario, but unlikely to happen.

If the bankruptcy is verified by the credit reporting agencies, you will need to send a procedural request letter asking them who they verified the bankruptcy with. See my example letters here. They will then respond, claiming that it was verified by the courts. No it wasn’t –the courts do not verify.

Next, as you might have guessed, you will need to contact the courts that were specified by the credit agencies. Ask them how they went about verifying the bankruptcy. They will say they didn’t verify anything. Ask for that statement in writing. After you receive the letter, mail it to the credit reporting agencies, and demand that they immediately remove the bankruptcy as they knowingly provided false information and therefore are in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Hopefully this should do the trick and the bankruptcy will be removed promptly.

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Student loan creditors such as Nelnet are required by law to report accurate information to credit agencies. This makes dealing with late or defaulted student loans much different than other accounts. Basically, regardless of if you have consolidated, or even undergone a rehab program, the record will remain on your credit report for 7 years.

Please see: http://www.ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea98/HR6.pdf for the specific legal mumbo jumbo.

Most other accounts CAN be negotiated

…if you go about it the correct way. I wrote a whole article about the best way to do this. Go here to read about negotiating charge offs, derogatory, late, and a bunch more.

Independent Thought

During difficult times a loan spent in the right way can make things a lot better. A loan spent unwisely will become a curse later. These days banking loans see your credit worthiness before issuing any loans. Bad credit rated people can get secured loans though they require some kind of collateral. If you have accumulated numerous student loans, you should think about getting a consolidated loan. That will make life a little bit easier.

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The fastest and easiest way to increase your credit score is to dispute any negative items on your credit report that are incorrect or not yours. If you haven’t checked your credit report in a couple of years, there are likely incorrect items that are hurting your credit. This is another reason to check your credit report every six months or so. When I checked my credit report after letting it go a couple of years I found two debts marked as CHARGE OFF that weren’t even mine. After disputing these items my credit score increased 70+ points.

Items that may have a negative impact on your credit score

Refer to my list of negative items when looking for inaccuracies to dispute.

Don’t forget to look over the “Personal Information” section of your credit report. This is the section that lists your current and previous employer(s) and address(es). Both of these can impact your credit score and they are often inaccurate. The calculation of your credit score takes into account how stable you appear to be. Therefore, if your credit report shows 15 previous addresses and 5 employers in the past 2 years it will lower your score by a dozen or so points. While personal details such as address and employer do have some impact, it’s not very much, so this should be the least of your worries if you have debt. Nonetheless, just double check for small inaccuracies such as multiple listings of the same address (this is very common).

How to dispute credit report inaccuracies

The credit reporting agencies have made the process of disputing an inaccurate item manageably simple. In most cases, however, it has been my experience that after you file a dispute, it can take them a couple of months to investigate and correct the error (don’t get freaked out if you haven’t heard anything in a month). It can be a particularly lengthy process if the item in question involves identity theft.

There are generally 3 ways to dispute an inaccuracy: online, by phone, or by mail. Do it online, because otherwise it will take forever. All 3 of the credit reporting agencies have online forms you can fill out to file a dispute. Very easy.

Here are links to the credit reporting agency’s dispute centers

• Equifax Online Dispute
• Experian Online Dispute
• TransUnion Online Dispute

Keep in mind: If an inaccuracy is listed on all three credit reports, you must dispute it with all three credit agencies.

Don’t dispute accurate entries

Some people will claim that you should dispute items even if they are completely accurate in hopes that the creditor will be unable (or unwilling) to verify the disputed item. I am advising you against this for a few reasons.
First, it’s against the law. Second, if the debt is a large amount you can bet your ass the creditor will take the time to prove it’s yours and it’s accurate. Third, if you attempt to file multiple disputes at once, the credit agency will lock you from filing a dispute for awhile.

Once the investigation is complete

Once the investigation is complete you will receive an email (if you filed online) that the correction has been made. Also, you will receive a free copy of your corrected credit report (this is required by law). Note: this does not count towards your free annual credit report. Depending on the item that was corrected your credit score will also change to reflect the correction. Again, getting inaccuracies corrected can greatly improve your score and in most cases it’s an easy process.