Dealing with credit bureaus while working on fixing your credit can sometimes seem rather intimidating. After all, you are just one lone person or family trying to work out your credit repair with a large organization. However, it may make you feel better to know that even the credit reporting agencies must follow certain rules.



When you dispute a negative item on your credit report, the credit bureau is required to investigate. This is not optional, but rather a duty that they must perform. The only way they can keep from doing the investigation is if your dispute is deemed frivolous. If you use proper methods of credit repair, there is no reason this should happen.

The credit reporting agencies answer to the guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If you are going to work on your credit repair, you need to get a copy of this Act. It will help if you can find some information that helps explain some of the legalese written into the document.

Although it often takes many months to finally settle a dispute, the credit bureaus are supposed to make a timely decision. When you submit a dispute during credit repair, the credit bureau ordinarily has 30 days in which to complete the investigation. The only exception is when you have used . In that case, they have 45 days. These time frames are not being adhered to very well, but there is a push to comply.

There are also strict rules regarding the handling of your credit repair evidence by the credit reporting agencies. They must take care with the documents you send and keep them in their files. At any time while the dispute is being investigated, you can request copies of your evidence to make sure that the credit bureau has maintained these records. The credit bureau is required to supply these papers.

After the credit bureau has completed their investigation into your dispute, they have five days to send you the results. You will find out their resolution of the dispute, whether it is in your favor or not. If there is still a problem, you will need to keep working at credit repair. If it turns out that the bureaus find something that they are willing to correct, they will be sending you another document. You should receive a new credit report listing any changes.

It has been known to happen that credit bureaus have removed debts from credit reports only to put them back later. This is not legal under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If a determination has been made that a negative item does not belong on your credit report, the credit reporting agencies have no authority to put it back on. When this does occur to you during credit repair, there are legal steps you can take.

It is also within your rights to ask for help with correcting damage that has been done to your reputation by a faulty report. If your report proves to be in error, you can demand that the credit bureau notifies everyone that has received this negative report. If you feel that it will make a difference in being reconsidered for a job or purchasing a home, it is a good idea to go forward with this to complete your credit repair.

Fixing your credit can be a difficult process at times, but there is no reason it should be overwhelming. You have rights as a consumer, and credit bureaus have responsibilities. Think about this as you work on your credit repair.