1. If your client’s client need to increase their scores get their credit scores from all 3 CRA.  

If they are facing a deadline such e.g obtaining a mortgage and your client need results in less than the 30 days, your client can call challenge account and get a rescore. Check with your client’s broker or lender to see if they can assist your client’s client. In that case you can dispute with their mortgage credit reporting company.

2. Never dispute online. There are several drawbacks:

If your client have collections, you have to decide whether to dispute with the bureaus only or whether to send disputes and validation requests to the collectors.  It takes more time and effort to dispute with the collectors too, but the results are MUCH better. It all depends on how important your client’s credit is to your client.

If your client have many old collections and you have lots of time to improve your client’s credit, you might want to dispute with the bureaus first and then just deal with the remaining collections after the disputes.

It is best requesting validation at the time of the initial dispute.  Often CRAs won’t investigate a 2nd time.

3. Keep great records.

You are a professional and must keep copies of dispute letters and the investigation results.  Keep the disputes and results at least for a few years after correction.

4. Account history information is much more important than just bad accounts

If your client can have a recent collection and a credit score of  680 and higher and has lots of positive old accounts.   It’s often better not to dispute old late payments.

5. When disputing make sure it is FACTUAL.

Please note: It is rare that everything about a charged off or any negative account is accurate.   Your client’s chances of deletion are better with a factual dispute of incorrect data than when you deny that the account belongs to your client.

Do NOT dispute “not my account” for accounts that really belong to your client.  This is easily verifiable and could create frivolous status for your client.

If your client stick to factual disputes, chances are that if the account isn’t deleted, incorrect data will be verified and your client might have legal claims.

6. Understand Time line

Dispute all RELEVANT incorrect reporting in ONE letter to each credit bureau.   They have 30 days to investigate unless your client got your client’s free annual report, which gives them 45 days.

Sometimes it is necessary to supply documentation, but it is best to wait for 2nd disputes.

This process should take no more than 3 months.  If any incorrect data remains, your client should be ready to sue.  I realize that most people don’t want to sue. And of course your client can continue to argue with credit bureaus, collectors and creditors for literally years.

In most cases, it’s best to either sue or just wait a year and/or work on improving your client’s credit with Authorized users accounts. Yes they can still help the credit score.