How to Challenge Your Date Updated Status on Your Credit Report

An interesting phenomenon happens when a consumer disputes their credit reports. I discovered this when I merely ordered copies of my credit reports through "normal" channels. By this I mean by using annualcreditreport.com and then by requesting my reports in writing from the individual bureaus.

You see, the credit bureaus do not make any money by providing accurate information, so they attempt to avoid investigation at all possible costs. The most common delay tactic that they use is claiming that you didn't send in the proper identifying information. I knew this prior to ordering my credit report and had a checklist of exactly what they required and sent the appropriate copies. (NEVER send originals) What I got back from the credit bureaus, several weeks later, was a form letter requesting the exact items that I had previously sent.

The identifying items can include a copy of your drivers license or state identification, utility bill to show your current address, copy of your social security card and other items that will help prove who you are and where you reside.

What they are attempting to do here is discourage you into not sending the requested items again and just forget about trying to obtain your credit reports. The reason behind this is that they know that your credit report will contain some errors. Most all do. Not only will this create more work for them but they will be forced to go against the banking system, the very people they earn their living through, by correcting errors. This will ultimately change your credit score allowing you to obtain lower interest rates, where the banking system will make less money from you.

Another common practice the credit bureaus do is not to perform a complete investigation of your dispute. The way one would assume it to work is that the credit bureau receives a disputed account which is sent to the original creditor to supply proof of the debt and details of the account. The creditor then has 30 days to issue a response where either the item is corrected, deleted or no change is made at all.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. A great number of credit bureau disputes are ignored. You can see this by reviewing your credit reports and looking for the "Date Reported" which should be the same as the date that the bureau verified the account. If the creditor verified the account, the date would change to the more recent, current date. The three credit reporting agencies make things more complicated for the consumer by using different language for this process. Experian uses "Date of Status" and Trans Union simply uses "Date Updated" being as consumer friendly as possible. At least that's what they would like you to think.

If you challenge an entry on your credit report and your "updated" report has the same date as the report you previously had and disputed, drop the credit bureau a letter pointing out this discrepancy.

However, all this effort in cleaning up your credit report and trying to improve your credit score can be just an illusion. The reason being that the report that a consumer receives is not the same report a creditor will receive when requested.

It is my opinion that the credit reporting system and the use of your social security number has many flaws. I have seen literally thousands of credit report since 1997, when I became a credit and debt consultant and would estimate that 95 percent of the credit reports that I examined have contained errors. Some small, but some quite large.

Consumers must be proactive when it comes to the accounts on your credit report. Hold the credit reporting agencies accountable for their actions and force litigation if necessary. The only way that they will get the message is to hit them where it counts the most.

The wallet.