Let's be clear, the US economy is still in trouble, and some are even talking about a "double-dip" recession. Most agree that the housing crisis was the cause of the recession, and is likely the key to any future economic recovery. Because the housing crisis also caused a crisis of dependable and accurate credit information, our banking system has become heavily dependent upon procedures and systems that do not allow misinformation to occur.
The FTC is issuing new rules and guidelines with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision (the Agencies) under section 312 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act), which amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The effective date for these final rules and guidelines is July 1, 2010.
Congress has amended the FRCA Section 623 with a new FACT Act law that is located at Section 312. Section 623 of the FCRA is entitled: Responsibility of Furnishers of Information to Consumer Reporting Agencies. In the interest of accuracy, especially with regard to a consumers ability to dispute the accuracy of information directly with an issuer of information/credit, or an original creditor. Section 623 places a requirement on issuers of information to provide accurate information to the credit bureaus.
The FCRA gives consumers the right to directly engage the issuer of credit in the dispute process by demanding to see exactly HOW they came to their conclusions about debts they say the consumer owes them; Issuers are required to provide, upon written request, all documents that prove the legitimacy of the debt; prove the alleged debt is strictly accurate with regard to the amount, correct dates of delinquency, and all late payments.
If they cannot provide proof in those and other areas, they must cease reporting the information to the credit bureau, who in turn must delete the debt listing from the consumers credit file. The new FACTA Section 312 gives FCRA Section 623 the teeth it should have been born with. It places not only a requirement on issuers of information to keep complete and accurate records; it also creates a right of the consumer to bring a lawsuit under FCRA Section 616 - willful non-compliance.
The FCRA requires that issuers of credit must perform a "reasonable investigation" and that they must have appropriate audit plans in place to evaluate their own ability to retain complete and accurate records. If they do not have such a program in place, there are no way they can claim they are following reasonable procedures to insure their data is accurate?
What does all of that mean for a consumer trying to restore their credit? It means the dispute process just got a little easier, in many ways. The dispute process can be complicated, but these two important sections of the FCRA and FACTA make it easier for the consumer to navigate the process. Just remember, my brother in arms, that credit repair is not about finding loopholes in the law, or luck. It's about protecting your rights as a consumer and holding companies accountable for violating those rights.
623 Dispute Method
When the conventional method of disputing an inaccuracy on your credit report fails to yield results, the 623 dispute method may be a viable alternative to getting erroneous or unconfirmed information removed from your report. The 623 dispute method allows you to dispute any inaccurate information on your credit report directly with the original creditor.
A 623 dispute does not work in the same way as a traditional dispute through the credit bureaus because you are not asking for verification of the debt, but for an investigation as to the accuracy of the records on that debt. If you creditor does not have accurate records pertaining to that debt, then they must remove the negative information on your credit report. The process usually follows these steps:
In order to successfully challenge negative listings on your credit report through the 623 dispute method, you must first dispute the information through the credit bureau. When you dispute the information to the credit bureau, you must wait for the 30 days for the investigation to be complete. If the original creditor verifies that the negative listing is accurate, then you move forward with the next step which is to dispute directly with the original creditor itself.
Under the laws governing the 623 dispute method, creditors must conduct an investigation when requested. In addition, when investigating, they must review the information that you provide relating to that dispute, and they must respond within 30 days to your original investigation request. The new laws governing fair credit reporting explicitly require the original creditors to investigate when requested, and will take effect on July 1, 2010.
This method will only work to remove entries on your credit report that are inaccurate, or entries in which the creditor no longer has to verifiable information. While you might think that the credit card agencies will have up-to-the-minute information about your past debts, this is often not the case. In fact most credit card companies will only keep your records for 13 to 18 months. Any late fees, charge-offs, or other information prior to this time they will not be able to verify through their records.
The 623 dispute method works because anything that is inaccurate, or not in the records will have to be corrected on your credit report. What this means is, if the credit card company does not have any records on your account at all they must contact the credit bureaus to have the negative information removed.
If you have disputed the information through the credit bureau before initiating the 623 dispute process, and the creditor refuses to remove erroneous information, you will have grounds to sue. Otherwise, your only legal recourse will be to have the state or federal authorities pursue the case, and it is solely at their discretion to do so.
Warning: This dispute method probably will not work for a debt that is fairly recent. It is also unlikely to work for those companies who do keep detailed records spanning several years. In addition, you will need to be somewhat specific about the information you wish to be investigated and any records that you have that can prove that there is an error will be helpful.
At the very minimum, you must identify the account by the actual account number and provide a reason to the original creditor explaining why you are disputing the accuracy of their records. If you do not provide this information as a part of your investigation request, the original creditor may determine that your request is frivolous and deny the investigation. Overall, the 623 dispute method works best for past delinquencies and charge-offs that may no longer is listed appropriately in the records.
