Credit lettersWhile I went through bankruptcy, I forced myself to understand what impact the credit score and report had on my life. I have never regretting understanding how those reports and scores impact other areas of our life. The one site that I found that was of the most use was Creditinfo Center. Their forums have a wealth of information to search through. When I first found them I spent a good day on the computer taking it all in and ended up with a headache (this was a good headache), but it was all for a good purpose, to enlighten myself and lighten the burden that my own ignorance has placed on my shoulders.

I thought I would post some of the resources that I have found useful from this site (plus it helps me clean out my mail folders).

Below are some of the letters can be used (as reference) for contacting debt collectors and original collectors.

  • Credit Reporting agency Dispute letter (though you can use the form on their sites, sometimes this is easier as you have documentation of your own)
  • Debt Validation letter (having a company validate that the debt is truly yours)
  • Proof of Debt Validation (basically you are writing the credit reporting agency because a company hasn’t proven the debt is yours)
  • Cease and Desist Letter (this is sent to companies to get them to stop calling you and only contact you via writing, so you can keep records, I used this quite a few times before bankruptcy)

There are a couple other in the list of forms that CiC has – I have used the Goodwill letter with one company and got a good response as well as using the intent to sue letter to get an item off my report that shouldn’t have been there.

Cic also has a interesting write up on the ‘˜secrets of verification‘ that might be a good read as well. I think one of the biggest helps was their validation flow chart – I had this printed out and taped by my computer.

Another site that I found of use, once I figure out how to use it, Lawdog.com, to find out if the creditors coming after me were licensed in my state, If they are not then there is one way to fight back. All of mine were licensed. But the site has some other good info on it as well.

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Dawn C. is site owner of Frugalforlife.com where this is a repost from: Letters for Fixing a Credit Report. Dawn is residing in Colorado with her spouse, Teri, of 11 years.