[letmeno]

There is this guy that I know who has started his own company. He claims that he can clean up your credit. I have always been warned about these type of things. That taking something off your credit report cannot be done. The way that he says it is done is that according to your credit, you will be charged a flat fee, he says that he will then send a dispute to every creditor, they have a week to respond to the disupute. They normally do not dispute it. If in a week they have not responded to the dispute, then they must remove the negative report from your credit report. If by chance that they do challenge the dispute, he will then dispute their dispute (if that makes any sense @ all) They will keep going back and forth with the dispute and normally the credit agencies don't take it too far. Can this be done, and is there any truth to this @ all

[RickJ]

The warning is for 2 reasons:
1. They lie about what they can do. One thing this guy lied about is the week thing. The Fair Credit Reporting Act does not proscribe a due date. It just says "within a reasonable period of time"

Typically the reporting agencies have adopted 1-month as that reasonable period.

2. There is nothing that they do that you can't do yourself.

Yes, if you dispute something with the credit bureau, they are required to either verify the item or delete it.

Also anything older than 7 or 10 years (depending on what it is) must be removed.

These sheisters just barrage the credit bureaus with disputes and know that some of it will slip through the cracks and not get verified.

So get a copy of your credit report from all three vendors:
Trans Union
Equifax, and
Experian

Study them closely for accuracy and age - and dispute what you feel you should dispute - or question for accuracy.

If you do, keep a good record of dates you sent letters, to whom, who you've talked to, etc... so you can follow up with them if necessary.