subject: Following Up On You Credit Dispute Letter [print this page] The Fair Credit Reporting Act orders all Credit Reporting Agencies to conduct immediate investigation on disputes filed by consumers. After 10 days upon receiving your dispute letter, the agency must send notice that an investigation is on the way.
It may take up to 30 days before the investigation will be completed. After this period, you should receive a letter from the credit reporting agency, informing you of the result of the investigation. If your dispute has been found to be valid, you should be provided with an updated credit report, free of charge.
What happens if you dispute has been found to be invalid? In that case, you should still be notified by the credit reporting agency about the status of your complaint. Nevertheless, there are instances when credit bureaus are slow in responding to a dispute.
If you have been waiting past 10 days for without any notice or response from the agency to whom you submitted your credit dispute letter, what can you do? Should you just let go of the matter and live up with incorrect details in your report? Certainly not!
How to Send a Follow Up Letter
You should send a follow up letter informing the bureau that you intend to file a formal complaint to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) if they refuse to take appropriate action right away.
You can quote in your letter of complaint that The Fair Credit Reporting Act orders all credit reporting agencies to respond to a dispute within 30 days and that not taking action is a clear violation of the Federal Law.
In the last part of your letter, you must give the credit reporting agency another chance to respond to your dispute. The chances of your first letter being misplaced or may have been neglected due to the large bulk of dispute letters sent to the credit reporting agency each day is entirely a possibility.
Be sure to include a copy of your original dispute letter along with copies of receipts or documentations that support your claims. Enumerate the exact items that you have enclosed in your follow-up letter.
A follow up dispute letter need not be very long or too elaborate. However, it is essential that your letter will not fail to state that you are well aware of your consumer rights and that you're demands for an investigation has a valid basis.
Consumers Must Take Action
If you still do not receive any notice or response from the agency within 15 days, be prepared to file your complaint to the FTC. You can either call the FTC's Consumer Response Center at toll-free 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357) or send your letter via registered post mail at the following address:
Federal Trade Commission - CRC-240 Washington, D.C. 20580
You can also file a formal complaint online using the Online Complaint Form available from the FTC's website.
It is important to understand that although the FTC does not directly resolve individual consumer disputes, it gathers complaints of law violations that may be committed by a credit reporting agency, a creditor, or a debt collection agency. If it has received a considerable number of complaints from consumers, the FTC has the power to shut down the agency's operations.
Copyright (c) 2009 Suzy Vanstrusen
by: Suzy Vanstrusen
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