There are two basic reasons not to file your dispute for credit reporting errors online. First, there is no paper trail, which could be essential to getting these items removed from your credit history. When you send a letter for dispute, it’s recommended that you send it certified with notice of receipt. This ensures you have proof of the date when you sent the dispute.
It is vital to have your disputes dated because credit reporting agencies are obligated by law to remove any information that cannot be verified within 30 days. If you don’t have proof of the date when you sent the dispute, you cannot use this law in your favor. With online disputes, there is no paper trail and you may not receive an email confirmation or any other notice of dispute request.
While the credit reporting agencies may make every attempt to follow through on disputes, it’s easy for one to get lost in the system. Sometimes, creditors can refuse to verify the requested information, even though they are obligated to do so. If that happens, the data should come off your record.
The second reason not to file a dispute online is because the information isn’t handled in the same way. The FCRA was developed to protect the consumer from unfair credit reporting practices. It was revised to include online disputes under Section 611a(8). In this section, it says that the agency may disregard other paragraphs if the information is deleted within three days of notice of dispute.
The paragraphs to be disregarded include the following requirements:
1. The credit reporting agency doesn’t have to forward the dispute and other information to the creditor.
2. The credit reporting agency doesn’t have to send you with written results from the investigation of the dispute.
3. The credit reporting agency doesn’t have to show the method of verification.
All of this information is important if you want to proceed with fighting the information on your credit reports. In addition, the type of deletion in this situation may be a soft or temporary deletion, which can then be reinstated when the creditor reports the next time. This happens because the agency doesn’t have to send information for the dispute to the creditor. What this means to you as the consumer is that the information which is disputed and deleted from your report can come back on in as little as 30 days. This is the main reason why we discourage using services that only use Credit Karma as a means of where the information is gathered to file disputes on your behalf. Free is convenient, but is not always better. These things CAN come back to haunt you.
If you find inaccuracies or discrepancies in how items are reporting on your credit report, the best way to properly file your disputes is to send a letter. This may take longer, however, doing so may give you better chances of having the disputed items removed permanently. Filing online may be convenient, but remember convenient isn’t always better. You can’t take shortcuts in your credit repair journey. This is a process that can take 6 months to one year, so patience, diligence and consistency is a must.
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