Articlr

A foreclosure can only be on your credit report for a maximum of seven years. There are inaccurate statements that say a foreclosure must be on your report for a minimum of seven years.

This is wrong. Credit reporting by lenders and creditors is entirely voluntary. In fact a lender can remove a negative mark at any point in time. They also do not have to report a negative mark in the first place.

I would first recommend that you dispute the listing directly with the credit bureaus. This is done by mailing a dispute letter to each credit bureau.

In this dispute letter you must include why the listing is inaccurate or invalid. Reasons why include; account paid in full, not my account, information is wrong and etc.

It is common for credit bureaus to deem an initial dispute letter invalid. They will respond and ask you for more information about the dispute. This is a common stall tactic for the bureaus. They use this because it only costs them money to conduct an investigation.

Therefore you will have to send your dispute letter again, with some persistence you can get a dispute submitted that is valid. Then the bureaus will hold an investigation into the listing.

If they are unable to verify the foreclosure then it must be removed from your credit report. Since the housing crisis many lending institutions have gone under or are unwilling to spend money verifying debt. With some luck your listing will be unverifiable.

If it is verified or you are having trouble getting a dispute letter deemed valid by the bureaus I suggest you hire a credit repair service. They will often have credit attorneys on their payroll with an expert understanding of the credit laws and they can use advanced dispute tactics.

We expect some new case precedents with the increasing number of individuals going through foreclosure. Thus it may be in your interest to hire a service, especially if the foreclosure is not your only negative mark.

You do however have one more option. You can negotiate a settlement agreement with the lender. In exchange for your payment get the lender to agree to remove the foreclosure from your credit report.

In sum, negative items do not have to stay on your credit. You can have them removed and can have a clean credit report.