I Paid a Credit Repair Company to Dispute Things and They Screwed Up My Reports
I owe NFCU for 2 credit cards and after a couple months of credit repair service, they now have derogatory remarks on my credit report.
I recently paid a credit repair company to try to remove only some things from my credit. I told them not to dispute two NFCU credit card debts, but they did. What can I do?
—James
Short answer
A credit repair company that disputes items you told it to leave alone is doing something you can do yourself, and better. Write to the bureaus, tell them you have no dispute with the account in question, and ask that the dispute notation come off.
Key points on this page
- Some credit repair companies take a scatter gun approach to disputes, which harms the customer it is supposed to help
- Many charge a monthly fee tied to the disputes they send, so they keep disputing items they should not, including items already removed
- Nothing a credit repair company does is beyond you, and hand picking your own disputes can have it finished inside a couple of months
- Disputing legitimate items that will never be removed can complicate the debt work you need to do to reach an actual credit goal
- When an obviously erroneous, out of date or incorrect item survives the first pass, you can take a different route and dispute it through the CFPB
- Write to the credit bureaus, state plainly that you have no dispute with the account, and ask them to remove that from your reports
Credit repair companies are not all they are cracked up to be. One of the draw backs I see more and more is disputing accounts that are completely unnecessary, and as you pointed out, even unwanted. After speaking with consumers, and others in the debt and credit industry, I have come up with a few reasons why this is happening.
- Your credit repair company takes a scatter gun approach to sending disputes to their customers detriment.
- The credit repair company may be incompetent.
- Many credit repair companies operate by charging monthly fees for the disputes they send out. If’ they are not disputing they are not making money.
As a result of number 3, and even when the practice harms their clients, they will send disputes on items they should not, or that have actually already been removed… repeatedly.
Are credit repair companies worth it if they get things deleted?
This is one of the main question I ask in a free report that will come out in the next couple of weeks. I do not think credit repair companies are worth the money in today’s debt and credit reality. Two reasons I more fully lay out in the report are:
- Credit repair companies are not doing anything you cannot do for yourself, and more effectively.
- We now have a federal agency monitoring the credit bureaus closer than was possible a few years ago.
You can hand pick the items you are disputing and be done inside of a couple months by doing DIY credit repair. And when obvious erroneous. out of date, or incorrect items are not removed or corrected on the first pass, you can engage a different type of dispute process with the CFPB.
Credit repair companies are not doing anything you cannot do, and they can end op charging you money for causing harm. In your case, you told them not to dispute something, but they did anyway. In others cases, they dispute legitimate items that are simply not going to be removed that can complicate efforts to resolve debts in order to accomplish credit goals.
You are going to have to write to the credit bureaus and let them know you do not have a dispute with Navy Federal Credit Union and to please remove that from your credit reports.
Who was the credit repair company you used?
What are the items you wanted them to remove and why?
Anyone with questions or concerns about using a credit repair company can post in the comment below for feedback.
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
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