Warning: the 30 day rule for credit disputes is a lie

I found out the hard way that credit bureaus don't actually have to finish your dispute in 30 days like they say. Had a bogus collections from a place in Tampa on my report, filed a dispute with Equifax, and after 45 days they just marked it as "verified" without even contacting the debt collector. I had to send a certified letter to the CFPB to get it removed. Has anyone else had to go that route to fix a dispute that went past 30 days?

3 comments

3 Comments

parkerbrown3d ago

Oh man, that sucks. You're totally right, the 30 day thing is basically a marketing gimmick (I honestly think they just count on most people giving up). I had almost the exact same situation with TransUnion a few years back. They kept sending me that "verified" form letter without any proof. I ended up filing a complaint with the CFPB too, and shocker, the account vanished within two weeks. It's annoying that we have to go through all that extra paperwork just to get them to follow their own rules (but at least the CFPB actually works). You're not alone in this, the whole system feels rigged sometimes.

wesleyb203d ago

Jumping in to say yeah, the CFPB really is the only thing that seems to scare them into action. I had a similar thing with Experian where they had a medical bill that was like two years past the statue of limitations. I sent them a letter saying it was too old and they just ignored it. Took me maybe 15 minutes to file a CFPB complaint online and poof, gone within a week. It's wild how they'll just break the law until you actually force them to follow it. I mean, that 30 day thing is totally a joke, they literally count on people getting frustrated and quitting. But once you get that government agency involved, they suddenly remember how to read your dispute.

reed.elliot3d ago

Thing is, I've seen a few CFPB complaints go sideways or just get kicked back with a form letter saying "we looked at it and everything is fine." It works for some stuff but it's not like a magic button every time. Feels like they're just another middleman sometimes.