Disclaimer: I am not being paid or sponsored by, and am in no way affiliated with any brands or products mentioned in this blog post. The opinions and conclusions of such are my own and are as a result of my unsolicited use of said products and brands.
About a month after mailing out your initial credit verification letters to the three main credit bureaus, you will start getting your responses. Each response will likely be a multipage document letting you know that an investigation has taken place and that the pages attached detail the results of that investigation.
Following are the results I personally experienced from each of the credit agencies.
- TransUnion: As I mentioned in a previous post, TransUnion was the most stubborn of all the three agencies. Their response was a multipage letter/report stating that an investigation had been opened per my request per each adverse item I had inquired about (Note that the letters I sent are NOT a request to investigate but rather, a demand to provide physical verification in the form of signed contract), followed by a detailed report of each item and the outcome of each investigation with updated status. My first inquiry or letter resulted in NO deleted items and a whole lot of disappointment. I immediately started doubting the effectiveness of this whole process. A little over a week later, however, I was encouraged by the receipt of a response from Equifax:
- Equifax: This agency was by far the easiest to deal with. Only 2weeks after sending in my first 609 credit verification letter, I was able to log onto Credit Karma and see that my score had gone up more than 43 points, and that there were some pending changes to the adverse items I had inquired about. A month and a half after I had send in my first letter, I finally got back a response in the form of a detailed report of each item, and the results of their investigation. Again, although I had not requested an investigation take place, one had been opened. As expected, no physical verification was included in the report, but the good news is that approximately half of the items I inquired about were deleted. The rest of the items came back as “We verified this item belongs to you.” I was pleased that there was some progress, but I still had more work to do.
- Experian: Experian seemed to be a mixed bag. Their response was well over the 30‑day period allotted by law and of the 11 or 12 adverse items I inquired about, only 2 were actually deleted. The rest were labeled as “Updated” with a notation that I was disputing the accounts. I didn’t get real results until Round2 of the 609 credit verification letters.
ROUND2
I immediately set out writing my responses to all three credit agencies. As you will see in the 609 credit verification letter No.2, I addressed the fact that the agencies incorrectly assumed I was disputing the items and that I was still waiting on physical proof that I had entered into contracts with these companies. I also addressed the fact that they claimed some of the items were “verified” as mine and asked them who specifically verified the items and how. Additionally, I reiterated by basis for writing in the first place, referenced the law and demanded again that I wanted to see proof, and that I would seriously consider a lawsuit should my demands not be met. I included a photocopy of the report they sent me, as well as a reference to the certified mail receipt from my initial letter with the date they signed for it to prevent the agency from claiming they ever received a letter in the first place. Additionally, I took a highlighter and emphasized all points in the letter that I wanted the bureaus to take note of, especially the laws and the fact that I was demanding physical proof of a contract.
I sent each letter immediately upon receipt of the agency responses, thereby keeping with the staggered schedule. The responses to this second letter were quicker in coming than the first round and looking back, I think that might have had something to do with the widespread snow storms we were experiencing earlier in the year. The results were more a bit more encouraging and were as follows:
- TransUnion: Still a bit stubborn, they deleted several of my items, but there were about 4 they simply addressed as “verified” and “updated”. I could see no pattern, as their choice of accounts to delete seemed rather random. My score through TransUnion did go up 27points.
- Equifax: They pretty much deleted all but one adverse item. I don’t understand the rhyme or reason to it, but I have one negative item remaining on my Equifax credit score. They didn’t even send me a response to my 2nd letter, they just deleted all but one of the items. The one remaining item left is a collection account for an old cellular phone I had and it’s about to fall off anyway due to its age. I’m not even going to sweat it. My score jumped up another 49 points.
- Experian: Less than 30days after sending in Letter No.2, I received a response that Experian deleted all but 2 negative items on my account. That’s 9 more deletions. I don’t really know what my score through them is, but judging from the effects the deletions of negative accounts has had in the other two credit agencies, I’m sure it’s substantial.
So that’s where things stand for me as far as my 609 credit verification experiment. I recently sent out Letter No.3 to TransUnion and Experian in an attempt to get those remaining negative items off my credit report, and am awaiting responses. Letter3, as you will see, is pretty much a repeat of Letter2, with a reminder of the law and the possible outcome of a lawsuit if the agencies don’t comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act by either providing physical verification of the credit accounts in question, or deleting them. I will be sure to update you as to the outcome of those letters.
My takeaway from this whole experiment thus far is that it does work, it’s just a lot of tedious work and you really need to keep organized. I have files on each of the credit agencies in which I keep copies of the letters I send, responses received from the agencies, and the certified mail receipts for the letters I mail. I document EVERYTHING, including the date I receive responses from the credit bureaus. It doesn’t look like I will have to make good on my threat to file suit, but if for some reason I did go in that direction, having everything documented would really help my case.
Do you think you want to try this on your own credit profile? As promised, here is the link to download the letters in PDF format for you to send to the agencies, along with the agency addresses. I hope things work out for you!
