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Disputes

Accounts are not deleted during the 30-day dispute time period

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Topics addressed on August 22, 2007:

Accounts are not deleted during the 30-day dispute time period

Dear Max,

Recently, I attended a training on "understanding a credit report." I'm not sure about something that was said. We were told that during a dispute, the disputed item is removed from the report for 30 days, hence many of the fraudulent "credit fixing" agencies state that they can clean up your credit, only to find that the item returns after 30 days if not successfully disputed. A co-worker in our lending department swears this is incorrect and nothing is ever removed, even temporarily, from a credit report. Can you give me the true answer?

- NDE

Dear NDE,

When a person disputes a missed payment on an account under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) it is not deleted from the credit report during the dispute period.

If a person disputes the status of an account with Experian, we will contact the source of the information, usually a lender, which is then required to check its records and respond.

The dispute process can take up to 30 days to complete. During that time, the account still will appear on the person’s credit report. The information would not be removed. The response must be to delete the account, update the information, or make no change.

So, credit repair organizations that tell consumer that they can have an account temporarily removed by disputing it with the credit reporting company are incorrect.

Thanks for asking.

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