Question about firm that works with ...

[rlrl]

What is the name of your state? NY
section 611 of the FCRA to remove innacurate info from credit report.

I just completed a 3 year chapter 13 plan. Last month i attended a Life After bankruptcy seminar. They hosted a law firm that worked on behalf of clients that upheld the FCRA law section 611 which says that a consumer is entitled to dispute innacurate info on credit reports and to have info that cannot be verified to be removed. The person on the video mentioned that credit bureaus are handling thousands of requests per day and that the law firm willl push for the client that if such info isn't investigated by 30-45 days the info by law has to be removed from the consumer's credit report. The law firm of course is trying to get clients and keeps lowering their fee from $80 per month to $65 per month then lower again.

is this a wise investment or can I investigate my own credit on my own? is this the same thing as 'credit repair?".

 

[eloxley]

What is the name of your state? NY
section 611 of the FCRA to remove innacurate info from credit report.

I just completed a 3 year chapter 13 plan. Last month i attended a Life After bankruptcy seminar. They hosted a law firm that worked on behalf of clients that upheld the FCRA law section 611 which says that a consumer is entitled to dispute innacurate info on credit reports and to have info that cannot be verified to be removed. The person on the video mentioned that credit bureaus are handling thousands of requests per day and that the law firm willl push for the client that if such info isn't investigated by 30-45 days the info by law has to be removed from the consumer's credit report. The law firm of course is trying to get clients and keeps lowering their fee from $80 per month to $65 per month then lower again.

is this a wise investment or can I investigate my own credit on my own? is this the same thing as 'credit repair?".

If you're diligent, you can get the same results yourself. There are plenty of forums/boards online with the proper correspondence and procedures to accomplish this without laying out $$. It will take time, though, and will not be without some frustration. If these credit repair places get paid by the month, one has to ask what their motivation is for getting the job done quickly...

Good luck.

 

[Who's Liable?]

What is the name of your state? NY
section 611 of the FCRA to remove innacurate info from credit report.

I just completed a 3 year chapter 13 plan. Last month i attended a Life After bankruptcy seminar. They hosted a law firm that worked on behalf of clients that upheld the FCRA law section 611 which says that a consumer is entitled to dispute innacurate info on credit reports and to have info that cannot be verified to be removed. The person on the video mentioned that credit bureaus are handling thousands of requests per day and that the law firm willl push for the client that if such info isn't investigated by 30-45 days the info by law has to be removed from the consumer's credit report. The law firm of course is trying to get clients and keeps lowering their fee from $80 per month to $65 per month then lower again.

is this a wise investment or can I investigate my own credit on my own? is this the same thing as 'credit repair?".

Of course you can do this on your own. It depends on how diligent you are... They are correct in stating there is a time period that items on your report need to be verified by, those time periods apply to everyone and not just lawyers. Go to creditboards.com. A very helpful site.

 

[rlrl]

Thanks...

for the link and response. To me it seems that a lawyer can exploit the fact that the bureaus are overworked and may not make the 30-45 day deadlines(thereby putting more pressure on the bureaus), whereas the consumer may have more difficulty doing this.

What happens when you get a secured credit card? the only way to get your money back is to close the account which can drop your credit score? Am I right? I am guessing the credit card bank will not say "due tou your continuing good credit standing we are refunding your money and you now have a totally unsecured card".

Thanks again

 

[Who's Liable?]

for the link and response. To me it seems that a lawyer can exploit the fact that the bureaus are overworked and may not make the 30-45 day deadlines(thereby putting more pressure on the bureaus), whereas the consumer may have more difficulty doing this.

Partially Incorrect... You would be contacting the same bureaus. Lawyers don't have a "special" contact that they send the letters of validation. If you and a lawyer sent your letter of dispute to the same CRA, you BOTH would get the same 30-45day time period for a response. It's like paying someone to mow your lawn. Sure you can do it yourself, but paying someone else to do it would be easier... Its the American way!

What happens when you get a secured credit card? the only way to get your money back is to close the account which can drop your credit score? Am I right? I am guessing the credit card bank will not say "due tou your continuing good credit standing we are refunding your money and you now have a totally unsecured card".

Thanks again

Not sure, read the terms of the agreement. It's spelled out in there...

 

[Ladynred]

To me it seems that a lawyer can exploit the fact that the bureaus are overworked and may not make the 30-45 day deadlines(thereby putting more pressure on the bureaus),

No lawfirm can put any pressure on the CRA's unless he's suing them for big bucks, and they defnitely have NO more leverage than the consumer. The bureaus are REQUIRED to reinvestigate and they have 30 days to do it. If you send them additional information during that period, they will automatically extend that to 45 days. If you dispute using a FREE credit report, the dispute period is 45 days, not 30. It is extremely rare that you don't get a response in the required time periods. The lawyers can't enforce section 611 of the FCRA, the only ones who can do that is the FTC.

The first round of disputes may not yield deletions - for you or a law firm. Under FACTA you are then allowed to dispute DIRECTLY with the furnisher of the information and they are then bound by the same re-investigation requirements as the CRAs. It is a slow process, no matter who is disputing, so it takes patience and diligence.

Save your money, do it yourself, the lawfirm can't do anything 'special' at all.

I am guessing the credit card bank will not say "due tou your continuing good credit standing we are refunding your money and you now have a totally unsecured card".

You would be guessing wrongly. Some secured cards DO convert to unsecured after a period of excellent payment history. Not all secured cards do this though, so you need to choose wisely. While closing a secured account MAY affect your scores by a point or 3, one would hope that after a year or two you would have built up enough other GOOD credit that it's impact is very negligible.