So, you’ve got a legitimate error on a credit report and you’ve gone through the dispute process with no luck.
You're stuck.
The bureaus have either verified it or simply ignored you.
You went through all the necessary steps to apply pressure and tried your best to get it removed.
You’ve asked for their method of verification and repeatedly warned them…
But nothing has changed.
You’ve gone directly to the original creditor that reported it and have gone through the motions and disputed it and yet... it’s still there!
If it’s a collection, you’ve demanded validation and the collection agency ignores you or sends you a useless bill that does nothing to prove the debt is in fact correct.
This can be exhausting and leave you feeling really frustrated!
So what do you do?...
Whenever this happened to me, I’d take it to the next level and start firing off complaints and here’s why:
- I want to keep fighting for my client. Giving up is not an option.
- The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Make a commotion and you will likely get noticed.
- The last thing creditors and debt collectors want are complaints lodged against them.
The good news is, complaints are really easy to send and can be highly productive.
My 5 Step Proven Process
- I always started with the CFPB because they are the big dogs who enforce Federal laws and protect consumers at a Federal level.
Plus, the bureaus, creditors and collection agencies know that if they get too much attention from the CFPB it could result in an investigation that has the power to put them out of business.
- Next you’ve got your State Attorney General’s office in each state who enforces state laws and also has a heavy focus on financial complaints that include credit reporting and debt collection.
There are state attorneys for each state that take your complaints seriously and they also have the power to levy heavy fines or even put companies out of business.
That’s why filing complaints with them can be extremely powerful.
- Next, you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB doesn’t enforce any laws, but the state and federal agencies I just mentioned do refer to them as an indicator to see if patterns of complaints are occurring.
So I recommend you go ahead and file a complaint if you or your clients are being treated unfairly.
- Finally, you can always post negative reviews on major review sites like Google, Yelp, Trustpilot and the like.
Tell your story and spread the word!
- After you’ve filed your complaints or written your reviews, make sure you take screenshots of them and send them to the bureaus, creditors and/or collection agencies making them aware that you are not giving up.
You may be pleasantly surprised at how much attention you are given and how all of the sudden, the errors miraculously disappear!
