HOW TO REMOVE LATE PAYMENTS THE RIGHT WAY! — Transcript

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1. 0:00My name is Omar Clark, founder of The
2. 0:02Bureau Bullies.
3. 0:03I've been in the credit space for well
4. 0:05over 10 years now. Through multiple
5. 0:06failures, I've learned how to beat these
6. 0:08companies at their own game. And now
7. 0:10we're going to put together an action
8. 0:12plan. We built this platform to empower
9. 0:14consumers to fight back against
10. 0:15inaccurate credit reporting, abusive
11. 0:18collections, and a system that depends
12. 0:19on you not knowing your rights. Through
13. 0:21education strategy and consumer law
14. 0:23awareness, we've helped consumers remove
15. 0:25millions of dollars worth of debt from
16. 0:26their credit reports, and we show
17. 0:28everyday working-class people how to sue
18. 0:30and win without an attorney. Our slogan
19. 0:32is simple, sue them all. From the United
20. 0:34States to communities around the world,
21. 0:36The Bureau Bullies is here to help
22. 0:37consumers stop being afraid, start
23. 0:39understanding their rights, and take
24. 0:40their power back.
25. 0:45Welcome, welcome, welcome to another
26. 0:47episode of The Bureau Bullies, aka The
27. 0:50Sue Them All Podcast. Today we'll be
28. 0:52going over late payments. I know this is
29. 0:54something that a lot of people are going
30. 0:55through, and what I want to make clear
31. 0:57is that this applies to everybody.
32. 0:59Because normally what happens is that we
33. 1:01uh going to come on here with specific
34. 1:02topics, people are like, "Hey, well,
35. 1:03this is applied to this company, that
36. 1:05company." This applies to any furniture
37. 1:07that's on any credit report that's
38. 1:09reported a late payment on your report.
39. 1:12All right, so
40. 1:13uh the flow of this is going to go
41. 1:15number one, we're going to actually go
42. 1:17through what late payments are. Because
43. 1:19there's a lot of misinformation on the
44. 1:20internet about what they are. We're
45. 1:21going to look at the effect of them on
46. 1:23your credit report, how they
47. 1:24specifically affect your credit report,
48. 1:26and what it may be hindering you from
49. 1:27getting. And then we're going to put
50. 1:28together an action plan. But a quick
51. 1:30disclaimer, I must be clear that we
52. 1:32don't promise any results based on any
53. 1:34information we put in our videos, in our
54. 1:37e-books, etc. And also, I am not an
55. 1:39attorney, so if you need legal advice,
56. 1:41please seek advice from a qualified
57. 1:44attorney in your state. All right, with
58. 1:46that being said, let's get into it. So,
59. 1:48I have notes here because if you have
60. 1:49been a Bureau Bullies fans for a while,
61. 1:52uh you notice one of my biggest issues
62. 1:53is I start to ramble, and I'm going to
63. 1:54do better with that. So, I said for now
64. 1:56on when I shoot YouTube videos, I'm
65. 1:57going to keep my notes in front of me so
66. 1:59I stay on topic. All right? Number one,
67. 2:01a late payment, by definition, if you
68. 2:03actually look under the FCRA, it doesn't
69. 2:05define what a late payment is. This is
70. 2:07an internal thing that goes on between
71. 2:10you and the furnisher that you're doing
72. 2:11business with. So, this is your American
73. 2:13Express, Discover, Capital One. This is
74. 2:15an internal thing. And because it's an
75. 2:18internal thing, it's judged by your
76. 2:20agreement first, then it's judged by
77. 2:24what's reported to the CRA. So, make
78. 2:26sure you make note of that. Now, the
79. 2:27thing about a late payment is it makes
80. 2:30up 35% of your FICO score, right? So,
81. 2:33that's the biggest factor. And that's a
82. 2:35very huge chunk. That's close to 50%.
83. 2:37We're 15% away from being 50%. So, 35%
84. 2:41is a very high number. So, one late
85. 2:43payment, a person, which I've seen this
86. 2:45personally, a person can have almost a
87. 2:48850 credit score, and they could be
88. 2:50traveling or something, and they get one
89. 2:51late payment, and it drops their score
90. 2:54over 150 points. Now, I know you're
91. 2:56saying, "Oh, somebody goes from 850 to
92. 2:58700, that's not a big deal." No, that's
93. 2:59a huge deal. All right? Now, something
94. 3:02else I want to add before I go deeper
95. 3:03into this is I do not believe in
96. 3:05goodwill letters. Don't believe in them.
97. 3:08If there's a late payment on your
98. 3:09report, we're going to fight to no end,
99. 3:11but we will never do a goodwill letter,
100. 3:12and here's why. When you do a goodwill
101. 3:14letter, you're at the furnisher, aka the
102. 3:17creditor's complete discretion. So, if
103. 3:19they feel like moving it, they will. And
104. 3:21if they don't want to do it, they won't.
105. 3:22Now, when they say they won't, and then
106. 3:24you try to apply some of the methods I'm
107. 3:25going to teach, they're going to use
108. 3:27that goodwill letter as leverage because
109. 3:29they keep a record of everything you
110. 3:30send them. Uh late payments take uh
111. 3:33account for 35% of your score. And the
112. 3:37thing is, one single 30-day late payment
113. 3:39is reported for 7 years. So, one little
114. 3:42mishap is going to haunt you for the
115. 3:43next 7 years. Now, the thing is, if you
116. 3:45just have one late payment, I'm saying
117. 3:47it lasts 7 years, but it it uh has less
118. 3:50of an effect on your credit score over
119. 3:51time, but it still does affect it. So,
120. 3:53the newer it is, the bigger the effect
121. 3:54that it has on your credit score, right?
122. 3:56And the bigger your credit score,
123. 3:57meaning the closer you are to that 850,
124. 3:59the harder the late payment hits, all
125. 4:01right? But, what you have to understand
126. 4:03is that something being reported doesn't
127. 4:05all automatically make it accurate. And
128. 4:07the reality is under the FCRA, accuracy
129. 4:10is the law, not what's reported. So,
130. 4:12you'll talk to a lot of these creditors,
131. 4:14Wells Fargo, etc. They'll say, "Well, we
132. 4:16have to report it." That's not totally
133. 4:18true. No, they have to be accurate.
134. 4:20There are five segments we're going to
135. 4:22look at. One, how late payments really
136. 4:24work. Two, Metro 2. This is the hidden
137. 4:27language of your credit report that most
138. 4:28people don't know.
139. 4:29Number three, your FCRA dispute rights.
140. 4:33Number four, we're going to actually
141. 4:34look at penalties with real teeth. And
142. 4:36number five, I'm going to give you a
143. 4:37playbook. So, here's what we're going to
144. 4:39Here's number one. How late payments
145. 4:42really work. Late payments, right? A
146. 4:44late payment isn't late to the CRAs
147. 4:47until it's 30 days past due. I'm going
148. 4:49to say it again. A late payment is not
149. 4:51late to the CRAs, as Experian,
150. 4:53TransUnion, Equifax, until it's exactly
151. 4:5530 days past due.
152. 4:57So, if you miss your due dates by a few
153. 4:58days, right? Creditors, if if your
154. 5:01payment was due on the 5th of March, you
155. 5:04didn't pay until the 4th of April,
156. 5:07that's not 30 days late. And it can't be
157. 5:10reported as 30 days late. And that's
158. 5:12what happens to a lot of people.
159. 5:13Remember, it's not based on what's
160. 5:14verified, it's based on what's accurate,
161. 5:16all right? So, creditors, they genuinely
162. 5:19genuinely report a missed payment to the
163. 5:21bureaus only once. Once it is at least
164. 5:2330 days past due past the due date,
165. 5:26right? So, if you pay before it was 30
166. 5:28days late and it still hits your report,
167. 5:30which it always does, that's a
168. 5:32violation. Now, you'll still owe a late
169. 5:34fee, but that doesn't all automatically
170. 5:36mean you were late. According to Metro 2
171. 5:38compliance, you have a 30-day late, you
172. 5:40have to make sure it's exactly 30.
173. 5:42Then you have a 60-day late, then it has
174. 5:43to go all the way up until whatever.
175. 5:45Now, this is an internal thing again,
176. 5:46when they get officially charged off,
177. 5:48etc. But, today we're not talking about
178. 5:49charge-offs.
179. 5:51But, now you have to first make sure you
180. 5:52were actually 30 days late on the first
181. 5:54time they mark you 30. Because, what
182. 5:56happens is they mark you 30, that's been
183. 5:58re-aged if it wasn't exactly 30 days,
184. 5:59and then they'll start on 60, and each
185. 6:01one becomes an even bigger violation.
186. 6:03But, each one is hitting your report
187. 6:04harder and harder. So, your first step
188. 6:06before you start any action plan is to
189. 6:08make sure you were actually 30 days
190. 6:10late, all right? So, secondly, how much
191. 6:13does each late payment cost you? Now,
192. 6:16the first late payment on an excellent
193. 6:17profile, which in my opinion is 720 and
194. 6:20above, it can it hits you way worse than
195. 6:23a person with a lower profile. So,
196. 6:24anybody under 700
197. 6:27is not going to get hit as hard as
198. 6:28somebody over 720 when it comes to a
199. 6:30late payment. That first late payment
200. 6:32normally can drop you 60 to 110 points.
201. 6:36But, after that it slowly starts to fade
202. 6:38as your score drops. So, if somebody has
203. 6:40a 500 credit score and they get a 30-day
204. 6:42late, you might not it might not even
205. 6:43move, maybe 5 to 10 points.
206. 6:46But, somebody over that, they're going
207. 6:47to see a huge drop. So, the more
208. 6:50uh the way it's it's phrased or looks,
209. 6:52the more financially responsible you
210. 6:54were, you're penalized even harder,
211. 6:56right, when you make have one mishap or
212. 6:58have one mistake. So, I had a client one
213. 6:59time who always maintained good records,
214. 7:02always had a great credit score, etc.
215. 7:05And they literally forgot about one of
216. 7:08their mortgage payments cuz they were in
217. 7:09real estate. And when it hit, it dropped
218. 7:11them astronomically. And before they
219. 7:13came to us, they reached out to the
220. 7:14creditor to attempt to um make a
221. 7:17goodwill adjustment. You would think the
222. 7:18creditor would have accepted it because
223. 7:20they made so many all my on-time
224. 7:21payments to this company over the years,
225. 7:23but they did not. So, it was handled,
226. 7:26but it took a lot of work because of
227. 7:27that goodwill letter. But, the point I
228. 7:28was trying to make was the more
229. 7:30responsible you are, the more you're
230. 7:32penalized. That's insane, but that's how
231. 7:34our system works. So, how long can these
232. 7:37negative marks legally stay on your
233. 7:40report? Late payments and most
234. 7:41delinquencies are measured from the
235. 7:43original date of the of the date of
236. 7:46first delinquency, not the date you
237. 7:47paid. So, every negative mark on your
238. 7:50report, this includes charge-offs, are
239. 7:51marked from the date that you were first
240. 7:52delinquent. That means your first 30-day
241. 7:54late is marked from that day, all right?
242. 7:56Not the date you made the payment to try
243. 7:58to cure the issue and not the date you
244. 7:59opened the account, but it's marked from
245. 8:00that specific date, all right? So,
246. 8:02collections and charge-offs, the clock
247. 8:04the clock starts at 180 days after the
248. 8:06link delinquency alleged reaction. And
249. 8:08for bankruptcy, it's up to 10 years. And
250. 8:11the best way to explain Metro 2
251. 8:12compliance is it's the hidden language
252. 8:15of credit reports,
253. 8:16and it's the format that furnishers must
254. 8:19follow and where it breaks. So, I want
255. 8:21to put that in layman's terms so
256. 8:22everybody can understand it. Uh right
257. 8:24now, we're filming at our office in the
258. 8:26Philippines, right? Now, in the
259. 8:28Philippines, they speak English,
260. 8:30but they also speak Tagalog.
261. 8:32So, what essentially what Metro 2 is is
262. 8:36the Tagalog of the credit of the
263. 8:38Experian, TransUnion, Equifax, and the
264. 8:39furnishers. It's a almost a secret
265. 8:41language that they speak to each other.
266. 8:43And if you understand it, you can use it
267. 8:45to exploit them. If you don't understand
268. 8:46it, things in your credit report will
269. 8:48just look like a foreign language. So,
270. 8:50you you don't have to master Metro 2
271. 8:51compliance. I wouldn't even tell you
272. 8:52that. But you do want to know a little
273. 8:54bit about it so you actually know what's
274. 8:56going on on your report, all right? So,
275. 8:58what Metro 2 actually is, it's a
276. 9:01standardized electronic format every
277. 9:04furnisher uses to report your accounts
278. 9:06to the bureaus. Let's break that down.
279. 9:08So, you have thousands of furnishers.
280. 9:10You have American Express. These are
281. 9:12just well-knowns. Capital One, Discover,
282. 9:14uh Bank of America, Wells Fargo. If all
283. 9:17of them had their own reporting format,
284. 9:20that would cause a huge issue in the
285. 9:22credit reporting world cuz they might
286. 9:23even report anything, which they do,
287. 9:25but for the most part, you have to find
288. 9:27a way to standardize that so the
289. 9:28consumer can understand, so the CRAs can
290. 9:31understand, and so there's a uniform
291. 9:34uh platform in which things are
292. 9:36reported. So, all of essentially what
293. 9:38Metro 2 does is just uniform the
294. 9:40reporting standards. So, it makes sense
295. 9:42to everybody. Right? And it's maintained
296. 9:45by the CDIA, the credit bureau's trade
297. 9:47association. It's updated annually. So,
298. 9:50a lot of people use Metro 2 compliance
299. 9:52in their disputes, but they're using
300. 9:54outdated information in their Metro 2
301. 9:57disputes because this thing updates
302. 9:58annually. So, you want to stay on top of
303. 10:01what's going on and just asking AI is
304. 10:02not going to find it. You should
305. 10:03actually go to the CDIA website and look
306. 10:06it up for yourself to see Now, you can
307. 10:07take that uh document, that annual
308. 10:10document from CDIA, and drop it in AI,
309. 10:12but just asking AI to find it and
310. 10:13normally won't work. You want to take
311. 10:15it, drop it in AI, and see what the
312. 10:16updated uh compliance is for CDIA. So,
313. 10:19here's here's here's some free game that
314. 10:20you can use.
315. 10:22Go to CDIA the website, get the updated
316. 10:24annual Metro 2 compliance document. It's
317. 10:27normally in PDF format. Drop it in AI,
318. 10:29and then drop your credit report in
319. 10:30there and tell the AI to draft your
320. 10:33dispute based on the updated Metro 2
321. 10:35compliance. And that'll give you a
322. 10:37better dispute. All right. Number three,
323. 10:40Metro 2 offer also covers each account
324. 10:43is a structured record. It comes with
325. 10:45the balance, the status, dates, history,
326. 10:48with the required fields for each one.
327. 10:50Metro 2 covers this. Right? So,
328. 10:53furnishers typically report monthly.
329. 10:55Every field is a is is a place an an
330. 10:58error can live or be challenged. So,
331. 11:00account status, this is a place or field
332. 11:03that the account can be challenged.
333. 11:04Payment history, this is a place or
334. 11:06field the account can be challenged.
335. 11:08Date first delinquency, in my opinion,
336. 11:09which is the most important one. That's
337. 11:11my opinion. This is a place or field
338. 11:13where the account can be challenged.
339. 11:14Date opened, reported, and closed,
340. 11:16another one. So, you have balance and
341. 11:18past due amount. So, you have all of
342. 11:19these fields where you can find a
343. 11:21violation and challenge this late
344. 11:22payment or this account.
345. 11:24But, everything on your report, anything
346. 11:26negative, the reason I'm covering late
347. 11:27payments first on the Pseudo Mall
348. 11:29podcast is because everything on your
349. 11:32report is negative almost always starts
350. 11:35with a late payment. So, if you can find
351. 11:37issue with the payment, you can beat
352. 11:39every other part of the account. The
353. 11:40most important date in my opinion on any
354. 11:43credit report, if we're talking about a
355. 11:45negative account, remember I said it
356. 11:47always starts the first late payment.
357. 11:48So, that means it also it What I'm
358. 11:50essentially saying is the most important
359. 11:52thing you should monitor is the date of
360. 11:53first delinquency. If something is off
361. 11:55with that, then that then you have proof
362. 11:58all the proof you need to prove the
363. 11:59account been re-aged, right? Now, what's
364. 12:02the definition of a date of first
365. 12:03delinquency? A date of first delinquency
366. 12:05is the first time you were 30 days late
367. 12:07and never brought the account back
368. 12:09current before the next negative action.
369. 12:11So, that's the first 30-day late
370. 12:12payment, all right? Number one, it is
371. 12:14impossible for the date of first
372. 12:16delinquency to move, especially if the
373. 12:17account charged off, right? Number two,
374. 12:20there are differing opinions on this and
375. 12:23differing case laws. Me personally, I go
376. 12:26with the opinion that the date of first
377. 12:27delinquency survives the sale. What that
378. 12:29means is if this account was late, then
379. 12:32it charged off and then they sold it to
380. 12:34Portfolio Recovery, it should still have
381. 12:36the same date of first delinquency. Now,
382. 12:38it does now have a new open date. So,
383. 12:40now if American Express charges off and
384. 12:43they sold it to
385. 12:44um Portfolio Recovery, if American
386. 12:46Express's open date was June 1st of 1995
387. 12:51and Portfolio Recovery purchased it June
388. 12:54of 2026,
389. 12:55they can report that as the new open
390. 12:57date. There have been case laws that
391. 12:59have stated that, so I will not refute
392. 13:01that. But, the the date of first
393. 13:02delinquency survives that. Legally,
394. 13:05every furnisher has to report the date
395. 13:08of first delinquency. And the date of
396. 13:10first delinquency has to be reported
397. 13:11within 90 days of placing an account for
398. 13:14collection or charge off. A lot of
399. 13:15people don't know that. But now, if they
400. 13:17don't report that, which a lot of times
401. 13:19they don't within 90 days, so why you
402. 13:20have to monitor your report, guess what?
403. 13:23You have a violation. And one violation
404. 13:24is all you need to get from up under any
405. 13:26creditor. Re-aging? This is all This all
406. 13:29falls under the first part of the
407. 13:31presentation or podcast. This all falls
408. 13:34under this late payments, right?
409. 13:36Re-aging. And what they do is a lot of
410. 13:38companies, because most people don't
411. 13:40monitor their late payments, don't
412. 13:42monitor the data first delinquency,
413. 13:43don't go through their statements and
414. 13:45everything and do the math themselves,
415. 13:47they A lot of these companies do
416. 13:49something called re-aging. What re-aging
417. 13:51does it resets the clock to keep you
418. 13:52down. Now, here's why it's it's so hard.
419. 13:55Remember what I told you?
420. 13:57The first late payment is the most
421. 13:58damaging. So, what about when they keep
422. 13:59re-saying that cuz they know you're not
423. 14:01paying attention? Or I'm going to tell
424. 14:03you something most people don't know.
425. 14:03Just because they're billion-dollar
426. 14:04companies don't mean they have the most
427. 14:06up-to-date software. Most of them don't.
428. 14:08So, because they're following Metro 2
429. 14:10format, a lot of times their software
430. 14:11they don't have the software to report
431. 14:13the next month. So, that's why you're
432. 14:14looking at a report and you'll see 30 30
433. 14:1630. A lot of them don't have the
434. 14:17software to report 30 60. All right? So,
435. 14:19what they're doing is they're re-aging.
436. 14:20If you have back-to-back 30-day late
437. 14:22payments and you did not make payments
438. 14:24within those times, they're re-aging
439. 14:26that and that's a humongous violation.
440. 14:28What is re-aging? It's reporting a newer
441. 14:30date of first delinquency than the real
442. 14:32one, making the old debt look recent.
443. 14:34And the effect that it has is the 7-year
444. 14:36fall off date, if you don't dispute it
445. 14:37or find a violation, gets pushed back.
446. 14:39So, it keeps the mark on your report
447. 14:41longer than the law allows. And it's
448. 14:44common when debts are sold and a
449. 14:46collector stamps the purchase date as a
450. 14:48date of first delinquency. So, an
451. 14:50example of that would be
452. 14:51Midland Funding will buy a debt from
453. 14:53Capital One, which is very normal. And
454. 14:55the date of first delinquency could have
455. 14:56been 2 years ago. Midland Funding will
456. 14:59mark the date they purchased it as the
457. 15:00date of first delinquency, which is a
458. 15:02huge violation. So, here's how you catch
459. 15:04it. You should never just have one
460. 15:06credit report you're looking at, right?
461. 15:08You should be carrying the data
462. 15:10comparing the date of first delinquency
463. 15:11across all three CRAs, Experian,
464. 15:14TransUnion, Equifax. And now you can
465. 15:15even add add a Novus into the bunch.
466. 15:17They should all match the same exact uh,
467. 15:20delinquency. So, you should always watch
468. 15:22for the collector's date of first
469. 15:23delinquency, the delinquency date they
470. 15:24bought the debt, so whatever and you
471. 15:26have to be notified of when that debt
472. 15:27was sold. You get something in the mail,
473. 15:29you match that date to what you actually
474. 15:31have record of, right? Watch for a paid
475. 15:34debt late pattern that restarts the
476. 15:36clock without a real cure. And if the
477. 15:38dates don't line up, that's a
478. 15:39delinquency you can dispute and
479. 15:41potentially sue over. So, I would give
480. 15:43you all some game that attorneys look
481. 15:44for, right? So, these are accuracy gaps
482. 15:46that attorneys look for first and if
483. 15:47they don't see this, nobody going to
484. 15:49attorney won't take your case. Number
485. 15:50one,
486. 15:51inconsistent dates. The dates don't add
487. 15:54up, all right? They open or status dates
488. 15:56that differ across all three bureaus. A
489. 15:57lot of people don't know to look at the
490. 15:58status date or date of last update they
491. 16:01report. This is something that we've won
492. 16:02a bunch of cases over. Something as
493. 16:04simple as that, all right? Status versus
494. 16:07balance mismatch. So, somebody putting a
495. 16:09current status but it's past due or
496. 16:11charge off still showing a balance owed,
497. 16:13all right? When we go over charge offs
498. 16:15in the next episode, I'll better break
499. 16:16that down. But, I want you to remember
500. 16:18this, all right? Next, duplicate
501. 16:20reporting. The same debt listed by the
502. 16:22original creditor and a collector as
503. 16:24owed, all right? Wrong late marks. A 30
504. 16:2760 90 reported in a month you actually
505. 16:29paid or time paid on time. So, in this
506. 16:33instance, you have to check your
507. 16:34records.
508. 16:35Re-age dates. The delinquency date
509. 16:37that's newer than your real first missed
510. 16:39payment and reinserted items. A deleted
511. 16:42item that returns after a quiet 5-day
512. 16:44notice. That's something The 5-day
513. 16:46notice is something we'll go on
514. 16:48in a later episode, but it's just
515. 16:49something you I want you to remember as
516. 16:51far as late payments as well because
517. 16:52sometimes a company might not remove the
518. 16:55whole account, they'll remove the late
519. 16:57payment and they'll put it back without
520. 16:58notifying you. So, that's something you
521. 17:00you want to keep a record of, all right?
522. 17:02Now, segment number three in the same
523. 17:04episode. Now, we're going to look at
524. 17:06your FCRA dispute rights, the timelines
525. 17:09you have, the golden rules, and the
526. 17:11requests that furnishers hate or dread
527. 17:14that they hope you never ever find out.
528. 17:16You're going to find out in this
529. 17:17episode. So, here's the dispute timeline
530. 17:20that the CRAs must follow. Number one,
531. 17:24the five business days. The The bureaus
532. 17:26must forward your dispute to the
533. 17:27furnishers within five business days of
534. 17:29receiving it. So, that's your first
535. 17:31timeline you have to remember, the five
536. 17:32business days. As soon as you send out a
537. 17:33dispute,
538. 17:34the date that they receive it, not date
539. 17:36you send it, date they receive it, they
540. 17:37have five business days to forward it.
541. 17:38If they don't, it's a violation. And I'm
542. 17:40going to tell you all later how to find
543. 17:41out if it's actually going to forward it
544. 17:42because a lot of times you'll dispute
545. 17:44something, Experian, TransUnion, Equifax
546. 17:46will verify without never having
547. 17:49forwarded to the furnisher, which
548. 17:50happens a lot. Second thing you have to
549. 17:52remember, 30 days. The CRAs must
550. 17:54complete a reasonable investigation
551. 17:56within 30 days free of charge. They are
552. 17:59allowed, this is number three, they are
553. 18:00allowed a 15-day extension only if you
554. 18:03sent new relevant information during the
555. 18:0530 days. So, here's what I mean. If you
556. 18:07disputed it and
557. 18:09uh they
558. 18:10start conducting the investigation and
559. 18:12you find some new information that will
560. 18:13help further prove what you're saying
561. 18:15that this account is reporting
562. 18:16accurately, send that in. They have a
563. 18:1815-day Now, they can add 15 more days
564. 18:20onto their investigation. But, they can
565. 18:21only do that if you sent new relevant
566. 18:23information. All right? Now, here's the
567. 18:25beauty of that. If they miss any of the
568. 18:27deadlines you just talked about, that's
569. 18:29an automatic deletion. But, most time
570. 18:30they don't delete it, but legally
571. 18:32they're supposed to delete it. If they
572. 18:33don't, you have to keep record of that
573. 18:35because it's going to help you when you
574. 18:36decide to sue them later. Here's the
575. 18:38second golden rule. Anytime you have a
576. 18:40late payment, never ever ever dispute it
577. 18:43with the furnisher first. Never dispute
578. 18:46it with Discover first. Never dispute it
579. 18:48with AMEX first. Never dispute it with
580. 18:49Citibank first. It always has to be
581. 18:51disputed through the CRAs first. It
582. 18:54gives you more power and more leverage
583. 18:56and preserves, aka, I don't want to say
584. 18:59play Yeah, preserves your rights. All
585. 19:01right? You don't have a private right of
586. 19:03action if you dispute it with the
587. 19:04furnisher first. But, you do have a
588. 19:06private right of action if you dispute
589. 19:07it with the CRAs first. All right? This
590. 19:10is under 1681 S Class 2B of the Fair
591. 19:12Credit Reporting Act, right? So,
592. 19:14disputing the CRAs triggers the
593. 19:16furnisher's duty to investigate, and
594. 19:18this is privately enforceable, meaning
595. 19:20you and I can enforce that without an
596. 19:22attorney. It's private. This pri- You
597. 19:23have a private right of action under
598. 19:24that. Number two, when you do that and
599. 19:27you follow the correct procedures, you
600. 19:29can actually sue the furnisher for them
601. 19:31failing to conduct the proper
602. 19:32investigation. So, the bottom line is
603. 19:34the bureaus' dispute is what preserves
604. 19:36your right to sue. So, disputing it with
605. 19:38Experian, TransUnion, Equifax, and now
606. 19:40Innovis preserves preserves your right
607. 19:42to sue as a consumer. But now, if you
608. 19:44dispute it directly with them, you have
609. 19:46no you no longer have a private right of
610. 19:48action. So, here's the furnisher's real
611. 19:50duty after a bureau dispute. Number one,
612. 19:52remember the furnisher is the person
613. 19:54reporting it. A lot of people get this
614. 19:55mixed up. They think the furnisher
615. 19:56Experian, TransUnion, Equifax. They are
616. 19:58not. The furnisher is Capital One,
617. 20:01Portfolio Recovery, Midland Funding.
618. 20:03These are your furnishers. And here's
619. 20:05their duty after you dispute something
620. 20:06with Experian, TransUnion, Equifax.
621. 20:08Number one, even though this is on
622. 20:09YouTube these other platforms, I still
623. 20:11want you to take notes so you can
624. 20:12remember. Number one, they have to
625. 20:13investigate. The furnisher has to
626. 20:15investigate. Once Experian, TransUnion,
627. 20:16Equifax sends them that notice of
628. 20:18dispute or that ACDV record, they have
629. 20:20to investigate. They have to conduct
630. 20:22their its own independent investigation,
631. 20:24right? They cannot just rely on what
632. 20:26their internal records say. They have to
633. 20:27actually investigate, not a rubber
634. 20:29stamp. Number two, they have to review
635. 20:30everything you sent off. Number three,
636. 20:32they have to report your results to the
637. 20:33CRAs. And number four, they have to
638. 20:35correct or delete it. Here's the reality
639. 20:37behind your dispute. There's a system
640. 20:40called E-Oscar, and E-Oscar is not set
641. 20:42up for realistic and fair and reasonable
642. 20:45investigations. E-Oscar is set up for
643. 20:47automated investigations. So, here's how
644. 20:49the pipeline works. You dispute it
645. 20:51through Experian, TransUnion, Equifax,
646. 20:53or Innovis. They send what's called a
647. 20:55ACDV record with with a three-digit code
648. 20:58to the CRAs. So, there's no way your
649. 21:00whole page dispute can be summarized in
650. 21:03a three-digit code. But here's the real
651. 21:05trick behind that. The system they used
652. 21:07to scan your dispute, that system just
653. 21:10looks for little keywords in your letter
654. 21:12and generates a three-digit code based
655. 21:14on that. So, even if you use the word
656. 21:15identity, but you didn't claim identity
657. 21:17theft, they will send the furnisher an
658. 21:18HTV record that says identity theft. And
659. 21:21so, the furnisher will conduct an
660. 21:22identity theft investigation, which is
661. 21:24totally different from a factual
662. 21:25dispute. And they'll say it's verified
663. 21:27based on that. So, your big dispute is
664. 21:29just
665. 21:31condensed into a three-digit code. The
666. 21:34furnisher doesn't actually review you
667. 21:36sent. It just reviews the code, confirms
668. 21:38the update, and then sends it back to
669. 21:39the CRA, and the CRA forwards that to
670. 21:41you. And the CRA doing that form doesn't
671. 21:43even conduct that investigation. They
672. 21:44just normally go off whatever the
673. 21:45furnisher says. Here's your second step.
674. 21:47So, if something comes back verified,
675. 21:49you want to request your method of
676. 21:51verification from the CRA. And they have
677. 21:5415 days to provide that. This is how you
678. 21:56trap them as well. Then, at this point,
679. 21:57you can decide whether you want to sue
680. 21:58the furnisher or the CRA. In this
681. 22:00particular case, if you request the
682. 22:01method of verification, which you should
683. 22:02always do, it's the easiest trap for the
684. 22:05CRA to get your not just your late
685. 22:06payments, but any accounts at all,
686. 22:08because they have to disclose the
687. 22:10procedure they used. So, this means they
688. 22:12have to tell you the description how
689. 22:13they determine the item the item was
690. 22:14accurate and complete. They have number
691. 22:16two, tell you the furnisher's identity,
692. 22:17business name, and address of any
693. 22:19furnisher they contacted. And then, they
694. 22:20have to give you the furnisher's phone
695. 22:22number if reasonably available. They're
696. 22:24not going to provide any of that.
697. 22:25They're going to come back with the same
698. 22:26response as before, which means
699. 22:27verified, and that's proof of a rubber
700. 22:29stamp investigation. Reasonable is a
701. 22:31word that I'm going to define because
702. 22:33reasonable means more than just a rubber
703. 22:35stamp, right? And one of the case laws
704. 22:37I'm going to cite is Cushman versus
705. 22:39TransUnion, which happened in 1997.
706. 22:41Bureaus must do a reasonable independent
707. 22:44investigation, not just verify with the
708. 22:46source. Meaning, when they dispute, they
709. 22:47can't just take Amex's word for it. They
710. 22:49have to conduct their own independent
711. 22:50investigation. So, a reasonable
712. 22:52investigation, what courts and the CFPB
713. 22:55require, is a reasonable investigation.
714. 22:57They cannot merely
715. 22:59confirm the data already on file.
716. 23:01Bureaus can't just parrot the
717. 23:02furnisher's information. They must
718. 23:04investigate and weigh what you submit.
719. 23:06Number three, furnishers must look past
720. 23:08their own computer to screen when
721. 23:10disputes calls for it. And the CFPB has
722. 23:12warned that both bureaus and furnishers
723. 23:15that automated conclusive verifications
724. 23:18always fall short. So, most of the
725. 23:20disputes you sent off, they just
726. 23:22conclude them based on whatever they
727. 23:24already saw on the computer. They
728. 23:25conduct neither one of them. The
729. 23:26furnisher nor the CRA almost never
730. 23:28conduct reasonable, fair, and accurate
731. 23:30investigation. So, normally what you see
732. 23:33is inaccurate, incomplete, and
733. 23:35unverifiable dispute processes. So, if
734. 23:38the dispute information is inaccurate,
735. 23:39incomplete, or cannot be verified, the
736. 23:40bureau must promptly delete or modify,
737. 23:43which they do not because they make so
738. 23:44much money off you having bad credit.
739. 23:46So, why is this your leverage? You never
740. 23:49have to prove, right, the item is wrong.
741. 23:52The burden is on the furnisher to verify
742. 23:54it's right with a real investigation. If
743. 23:56the time allowed, if they can't, it
744. 23:58comes off, which they never can because
745. 24:00they don't invest in the systems to do
746. 24:02this. Now, I'm going to tell you why.
747. 24:03These are businesses first, so they're
748. 24:05all about their bottom line. It's going
749. 24:07to cost a lot of money to conduct real
750. 24:09investigations cuz essentially you have
751. 24:10to get attorneys involved, you have to
752. 24:12get Americans involved, which they don't
753. 24:14do. They outsource everything. And they
754. 24:16they only want to pay for attorneys when
755. 24:17they're sued. They don't want to pay for
756. 24:18attorneys during the dispute process,
757. 24:20which essentially, in my opinion, they
758. 24:22would have to based on how much they
759. 24:23have to investigate when something's
760. 24:25disputed. All right. So, here are the
761. 24:27penalties on them with real teeth.
762. 24:30Right? You have something called willful
763. 24:33versus negligent. So, willful under 1681
764. 24:36in the Fair Credit Reporting Act means
765. 24:38actual damages or statutory damages 100
766. 24:40up to 1,000 per violation. There's also
767. 24:43punitive damages damages meaning
768. 24:45punishment. Whenever you hear punitive,
769. 24:47that means punishment with no statutory
770. 24:49cap plus costs and reasonable attorney
771. 24:51attorney fees. So, the FCRA is what you
772. 24:52call a fee-shifting statute, meaning if
773. 24:56you sue someone
774. 24:58and then get well you or you hire an
775. 24:59attorney, I personally
776. 25:01do pro se.
777. 25:02But if you hire an attorney and you they
778. 25:04sue them the company has to cover the
779. 25:06fees, the furnisher, especially if you
780. 25:08win. You have to cover the fees. That's
781. 25:09why it's called a fee-shifting statute,
782. 25:11right? And so if you can prove something
783. 25:13was willful, meaning they just willfully
784. 25:15disregarded what you sent all of your
785. 25:17proofs and everything you dispute, they
786. 25:18willfully disregarded it, rubber stamp
787. 25:20the dispute, you now have a willful
788. 25:22violation of 1681n. Now, negligent is
789. 25:27one of my favorites because you can
790. 25:28cover with recover what's called actual
791. 25:30damages. So you notice under statutory
792. 25:32damages you are capped at 1,000.
793. 25:35Actual damages is not capped, right? You
794. 25:38can actually get all the actual things
795. 25:40you went through, the emotional
796. 25:41distress,
797. 25:42uh the denials you got as a result of
798. 25:44this late payment, all of these things,
799. 25:46etc.
800. 25:47So here's the three decisions every
801. 25:50credit case turns on and that I want you
802. 25:52to memorize. GEICO versus Burr, GEICO
803. 25:55Insurance Company versus Burr, that
804. 25:56happened in 2007. TransUnion versus
805. 25:58Ramirez, that happened in 2021. And
806. 26:01Cushman versus TransUnion, which is one
807. 26:03of the most quoted cases in all FCRA
808. 26:06cases. And then we're going to I'm going
809. 26:07to give you a brief breakdown of each
810. 26:08one. In GEICO Insurance versus Burr,
811. 26:10what they decided was they defined
812. 26:12willful willful violations include
813. 26:16reckless disregard, not just knowing
814. 26:18violations. It opens the door for
815. 26:20statutory and punitive damages.
816. 26:22TransUnion versus Ramirez says to sue in
817. 26:25federal court you need concrete harm. A
818. 26:27bare technical violation isn't always
819. 26:29enough for standing. Which we'll have a
820. 26:30much later class about standing. But I
821. 26:32think we need I believe for this
822. 26:34particular
823. 26:36episode we need to start where most
824. 26:37negative accounts start, which is at the
825. 26:39late payment, the first late payment,
826. 26:41right?
827. 26:42Then you have Cushman versus TransUnion.
828. 26:44CRAs must conduct a reasonable
829. 26:47independent investigation, not parrot
830. 26:49the furnisher's information. So what
831. 26:50they do 90% of the time, well actually
832. 26:52I'll say 95% of the time, is whatever
833. 26:54the seller said is what they run with
834. 26:55and they don't want to hear anything you
835. 26:56have to say about it. So, this is why we
836. 26:58say sue them all because only way
837. 26:59they're listen to you is if you sue
838. 27:00them. What the FCRA does not do, so you
839. 27:03stay so you can stay credible. Accurate
840. 27:05marks are not fair, but late payment is
841. 27:07true reported correctly, FCRA does not
842. 27:09require its removal. That's very true.
843. 27:11They do not
844. 27:12dispute offer facts. The duty to
845. 27:14investigate to investigate covers
846. 27:16factual inaccuracies, not purely legal
847. 27:18arguments about who owes what. So, most
848. 27:20people go into credit thinking oh, I owe
849. 27:22it's not about what's owed, it's about
850. 27:24being what's it being reported
851. 27:26accurately or inaccurately. You need
852. 27:28real harm to sue. After Ramirez, federal
853. 27:30standing requires concrete injury, not
854. 27:32just paperwork by lawyers. What I mean
855. 27:33by this
856. 27:34if that late payment caused your
857. 27:36interest rate on a property you're about
858. 27:37to buy to raise by 1%, that's actual
859. 27:40damages. If you're being denied
860. 27:41apartments, actual damages. If you have
861. 27:43higher deposits, these are damages that
862. 27:45give you concrete harm. So, you have to
863. 27:47keep a record of everything. Dispute
864. 27:49everything, right? No, that's not the
865. 27:51real way. Especially late payments. If
866. 27:52you're a person that has 20 late
867. 27:54payments on 20 accounts, I say try to do
868. 27:57two or three at a time because there's
869. 27:58no way that everything from everybody is
870. 27:59reported wrong. And when you do that,
871. 28:01when you when you go at it that way,
872. 28:04it backfires because all your disputes
873. 28:06start getting marked as frivolous, so
874. 28:07nothing is looked at anymore. So, you
875. 28:09have to play the game
876. 28:11you have to play the game smarter. All
877. 28:12right, here's the playbook, all right?
878. 28:14Number one, I hope you're taking notes
879. 28:16on this. Pull all three reports or four.
880. 28:18You can't get a no without annual credit
881. 28:20report, but you still want to pull all
882. 28:21three or four reports from
883. 28:22annualcreditreport.com. Do not come to
884. 28:25me saying you pulled from SmartCredit.
885. 28:26Do not come to me saying you pulled from
886. 28:29I forget what the other one is. You only
887. 28:30want to use annualcreditreport.com or
888. 28:32experian.com. Don't come to me with
889. 28:34Credit Karma. Number two, you need to
890. 28:35line up the dates on all three. You need
891. 28:37to check the data first and then you'll
892. 28:38see the status, the balance for
893. 28:40consistency. Flag anything inaccurate,
894. 28:42incomplete, or re-aged. Number three,
895. 28:44you You to dispute through the CRAs in
896. 28:47writing with evidence. This triggers the
897. 28:49furnisher's duty on a 1681 S-2B, which
898. 28:52is your best friend. I hope you all read
899. 28:53up on that. Number four, you want to
900. 28:55demand the method of verification. If it
901. 28:57comes back and verified, request that.
902. 29:00Now, they have 15 days to disclose the
903. 29:02procedure and the furnisher's contact.
904. 29:03Number five, document everything. Keep a
905. 29:07record of why you disputed it, the date
906. 29:08you disputed it, the tracking number,
907. 29:10etc. Number six, escalate when
908. 29:13warranted. If they don't comply, you
909. 29:15have proof of non-compliance, you need
910. 29:16to rate a suit them now. You can either
911. 29:18decide to get an attorney or you can do
912. 29:19it yourself. So, here's how it goes.
913. 29:21Round one, you file your dispute with
914. 29:23the bureau. Round two, with the bureau
915. 29:25again, you demand a method of
916. 29:26verification. Round three, demand letter
917. 29:28to the furnisher. I don't believe in a
918. 29:30round four. After that, it's time to sue
919. 29:32them all, as you see in the background.
920. 29:33After something is verified, your next
921. 29:35step is always a method of verification
922. 29:38letter to the CRA. And that what returns
923. 29:40that reply and the leverage is the fact
924. 29:42I'm telling you they're not going to
925. 29:43give you the method of verification.
926. 29:44I've never seen one in my life and I've
927. 29:45been in credit since 2016, 2017. It's
928. 29:48been 10 years now. I've never seen a
929. 29:50complete method of verification letter,
930. 29:52and that's how we went out of
931. 29:53settlements that you all see. So, here
932. 29:55are some myths myths versus facts.
933. 29:57Disputing hurts my score hurts my score.
934. 30:00That's a myth. Paying a charge off
935. 30:02deletes it. That's another myth.
936. 30:04Goodwill letters always work. That's
937. 30:06another credit myth. Pay for delete is a
938. 30:08short thing. It's actually not even
939. 30:09legal and it's another myth. Credit
940. 30:11repair firms have secret powers. No, we
941. 30:13do not. There are no secret powers. Some
942. 30:16of us are just willing to
943. 30:18fight a little harder than others, but
944. 30:19there are no you know, and I'm in the
945. 30:20credit space and clean. There are no
946. 30:21secret powers. Now, anybody who's
947. 30:23claiming that and is doing some kind of
948. 30:25secret, normally they're hurting you in
949. 30:26the long run. And here's what I mean by
950. 30:27that. If you go to method where people
951. 30:29use the identity theft and claim you are
952. 30:31a victim of sex trafficking and stuff,
953. 30:33it'll remove from your report, but that
954. 30:35doesn't absolve you of the debt. So,
955. 30:36now, when that furnisher decides to sue
956. 30:39you for for that alleged debt, you lose
957. 30:41a lot of leverage because you no longer
958. 30:42have something have the CRAs which you
959. 30:45could have used to
960. 30:46as leverage to beat the loss. You no
961. 30:48longer have that cuz it's no longer
962. 30:49reported. A few violations that you
963. 30:51should take away from this call is
964. 30:52re-age debts. It goes back to that first
965. 30:54late payment. The verified but wrong
966. 30:57reinsertion without notice. You have
967. 30:59real probable harm. You have a mixed
968. 31:00file. Sometimes somebody can have the
969. 31:02same name as you and you're getting
970. 31:03their late payments you don't know who
971. 31:04this person is. And so here are five
972. 31:06takeaways. Number one, the date of first
973. 31:08delinquency controls the clock. Number
974. 31:10two, always dispute through the CRAs.
975. 31:12Number three, un-verifiable must come
976. 31:15off. Number four, use the method of
977. 31:17verification as your best friend. Number
978. 31:18five, the law has teeth. All right, and
979. 31:21here's a little closing out disclaimer.
980. 31:23Number one, if you they feel like you're
981. 31:25more of a hands-on person, if you look
982. 31:27in the description of this YouTube video
983. 31:29or wherever you're watching this, I have
984. 31:30a free ebook called The Bureau Bully
985. 31:31Bible. You can go to the
986. 31:32bureaubullybible.com and download it
987. 31:34yourself, but I have a free ebook below
988. 31:36that you can get. And what you have to
989. 31:38know is that this episode is for general
990. 31:40education, not legal advice or financial
991. 31:42advice, and does not create an
992. 31:43attorney-client relationship. Laws and
993. 31:46CRA practices change. For your
994. 31:48situation, consult a licensed FCRA
995. 31:50attorney in your state. Uh most of the
996. 31:52information from this particular
997. 31:55episode came from the FCRA itself, which
998. 31:57you can look up yourself. It's not a
999. 31:58secret. It's a publicly available
1000. 32:00federal law 15 USC 1681. Some of it came
1001. 32:03from CFPB rulings. Uh most of it came
1002. 32:06from case laws like Safe Co versus Bur
1003. 32:09King versus Ramirez, Cushman versus
1004. 32:11TransUnion. And I also look at the CDIA,
1005. 32:14Metro 2 format/FICO/Experian
1006. 32:17scoring data. All of this is readily
1007. 32:19available data to you and I. So I hope
1008. 32:22you enjoyed this first episode of the
1009. 32:24Sue the Mall podcast hosted by yours
1010. 32:26truly Omar from The Bureau Bullies. You
1011. 32:28can reach us on Instagram, TikTok, and I
1012. 32:32hope you get a copy of our free ebook
1013. 32:33below in the um description section. We
1014. 32:36are out.