Get Rich Slowly blog

I read a few personal finance blogs. The problem I always gripe about is that they post *far* too much for the average person to want to follow. Most days I either skim the topics or just skip reading them entirely. Today, I was skimming, and saw that Get Rich Slowly had a few really good articles.

Proper Care and Feeding of Your Credit Score
Anatomy of a Credit Score

I don't have experience with MyFico.com and Fair Isaac, but man, does that dude seem to shill for them in these posts. That said, MyFico does have a great brochure on:

Understanding Your Credit Score

Round Trip Times

Equifax takes over a month to get a letter back to you, albeit they address the issue in just under a month, probably putting them in the clear on "within a reasonable amount of time".

Experian has a lightning-fast response time, in comparison; maybe two weeks right now.

Experian Followup #2

So, the letter back from Experian states that the lender confirmed that it is my debt, and that "The FTC does not require that the consumer credit reporting company obtain documentation..." "nor does it require that consumer credit reporting companies act as mediators or negotiators in account disputes".

I'm debating whether to follow up immediately, again with the letter from the creditor stating they have no proof of that being my account, or whether to wait 90 days then follow up. I'm leaning towards the former, as the worst they can do is stop doing much about my letters. As this is the last thing I'm trying to get cleared, that might not be the worst punishment ever.

Reader Comment: Faxes

From one reader:
You might want to advise faxing in their disputes. I personally recommend doing that on my blog for several reasons.

a. If you need to resend your disputes, you have a copy and a fax transmission time from when you sent it the first time.

b. If you fax it on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and the company does not address your issues in 30 days, they have to remove it. Put the onus on them to do the correcting in a timely manner. With people taking holiday vacations in December, you might end up lucking out and having them drop stuff off the report due to their inability to correct it quickly.