You are going to find out that during the course of restoring your credit there is going to come a time when you are going to need to contact the original creditor. When the credit bureaus are refusing to remove an item and they keep coming back with letters as "verified" it is time to try another approach. Going directly to the original creditor.
If the debt is old this technique is a sure shot and even if it is not it can show some very favorable results. The creditors are tied to the same laws as the credit bureaus and any item in dispute they have only thirty days to validate, if they can't they have to remove it.
OK, you are going to have to sit down and formulate a letter and make sure it isn't some form letter you found off the Internet. Be creative in this letter and show some frustration, but not too much. Ask the creditor to provide you with the original documentation binding you to this debt. Chances are, if it's old they don't have it! It is probably lost in a warehouse somewhere, or so we hope. If the creditor comes back with anything but the binding agreement write them back and demand that they stop reporting it and immediately have it removed or face being sued.
The original creditor under law has to have the binding contract that ties you to the debt and any other binding paper work. They also only have 30 days to do it in, so if you don't get the binding paper work or they don't get it back to you in the 30 days allotted you can write a letter to the bureaus stating such and ask that they remove the item from your report.
Make sure when you write your letters you be descriptive with what it is you are trying to accomplish such as: " Please provide me with proof that the debt listed is mine within 30 days as provided by law and if you can't do so, please stop reporting false information on my credit report." Or something to that effect should work.
Make sure and document all correspondences and send all letters certified mail. Hold onto all of the info so if you need to, you can forward the information on to the perspective credit agency for removal.
I have had to use this technique several times and it has proved to be very effective for my clients and me. As a last resort when the credit bureaus have refused to budge on the item you can apply this technique. When this technique is used in conjunction with some of the others I have wrote about, you will find out it can be a very powerful weapon to knock out bad credit.
As with anything you do, you will need to remember to always formulate a plan with a clear goal in mind before launching any campaign to scrub your credit. Stay positive, never believe everything you hear and always find out for yourself. I have done many individuals credit reports and have heard many people tell me before it was impossible to do what it was I wanted to do. If I had believed them with out finding out for myself they would have probably been right, needless to say I proved them wrong. Good luck!
