Lexington Law Firm

December 26th, 2011

Lexington Law firm is a professional credit correction law firm. They have 20+ expert consumer credit lawyers and over 400 paralegals that will work tirelessly to remove the negative items on your credit reports.

They have been in business since 1991 and have a proven track record, last year they removed over 1.2 million items from their clients credit reports. This service is available in all 50 states and with very affordable pricing.

How Does It Work?

When you sign up with Lexington Law you will need to forward a copy of your credit reports to them. You also need to indicate what items you want to dispute. When they receive this information they will start writing letters to the bureaus to get them to investigate the items.

When the bureaus investigate they contact the finance company that created the item and ask them to verify it. They are going to request verification that it is a valid account, the balance owed, and the dates. Frequently the finance company will not verify the account and under federal law the credit bureaus must remove any item that is not verified.

While Lexington Law is handling all communications with the credit bureaus, you sit back and relax. All you need to do is forward investigation result letters from the bureaus, these letters indicate if your account was verified or removed from your report.  You need to pass these onto Lexington so they are not sending needless disputes for items that have already been removed from your report.

Why Do I Need A Service?

You don’t have to a hire service you can dispute items on your report yourself. The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a federal law passed by Congress that gives every consumer the right to dispute any item on their report they feel is questionable.

However the bureaus are not required to investigate every dispute, lobbyists and big business influence has caused Congress to give the bureaus the power to decide what disputes are valid or invalid. Invalid disputes are not investigated and valid ones are. This is probably the most detrimental amendment to federal consumer law in US history.

Why?

The credit bureaus earn their revenue by selling the information they have collected about you to potential lenders and businesses. In other words every time your credit is checked is when the credit bureaus cash register rings and they earn income.

Potential lenders are going to request this information and continue to pay the bureaus for it regardless of the accuracy. The bureaus do not earn any revenue by correcting information they have about you and their only motivation to investigate and correct information is to comply with federal law. The truth is bureaus spend money that is otherwise profit by investigating consumer disputes and it therefore makes fiscal sense for the bureaus to try and avoid these costs or investigations.

How our elected representatives decided it would be a good idea for the bureaus to decide when to investigate and spend money that is otherwise profits on investigations is beyond our comprehension. This decision by Congress goes against any logical or rational thought process.

The FTC has fined the bureaus on a very consistent and regular basis for not complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The largest fine was for all 3 credit bureaus combined and they paid over $1 million dollars. This fine was a result of blatant disregard for federal regulation.

The bureaus were required by our government to set up an 800 number hot-line for consumers to call in and file a dispute through. Yet the bureaus were not required to staff these phones and have employees to handle these disputes. Naturally the FTC stepped in and assessed its fine but it came at the expense and frustration of consumers calling this hotline and waiting by some reports over 48 hours on hold!

This is why many individuals feel that a credit repair service with the legal resources of court intervention is a great idea. Additionally the bureaus try to avoid all consumer disputes by sending erroneous written communication and erroneous requests for additional information. Their goal is for you to give up and just live with a bad credit item.

How Much Does It Cost?

Lexington Law requires a $99 upfront payment and then you have 3 levels of service to choose from starting at $49 a month going up to $99 per month. As a rough guideline you can expect to use the service for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months, however there are no promises as everyone’s situation is different.

You are going to have free and unlimited customer service, where you will speak to a paralegal to give you updates anytime and all the time on your credit repair progress. Stop being the victim of high interest rates and large down payments, and take action and discover what a good credit score can do for your quality of living without earning any extra income! For a free analysis call 800-251-3505.

Credit Repair Companies | Credit Repair Services

November 15th, 2011

Credit repair companies are typically comprised of a group of credit lawyers and paralegals that will employ two techniques to remove the negative items from your credit reports. These techniques are filing a dispute, and settling outstanding debts in exchange for discontinuation of reporting to the bureaus.

First, let’s discuss the dispute process, you will need to file a credit  dispute to remove every negative item on your report. You can do this yourself by writing a letter to each bureau, in your letter you will need to include your name and the item you are challenging. Additionally it will be helpful if you can include any supporting evidence, and the reason you are challenging this item.

According to federal law the credit bureaus must investigate a dispute, they will contact the lender and ask them to verify the debt. If the lender is unable to verify the debt or cannot provide accurate information regarding this account than the item must be erased from your report.

Unfortunately writing this letter will not get the bureaus to investigate. This is a result, we believe of big business influencing government regulation, because the bureaus must first deem your dispute valid before they will investigate. The bottom line is the bureaus earn no extra money by correcting or ensuring that they have accurate information about you, on the contrary they end up spending money with no potential for return.

Thus we believe these bureaus have influenced government through lobbyists to include that the bureaus must first find the dispute valid. This does not make any logical sense because the bureaus have financial motive to not investigate your dispute.. In fact the bureaus have been fined countless times by the FTC for not following government regulation. Thus to give them the power to decide when they are going to investigate item seems beyond ill logical.

At any rate this is the case you are in. If you send your dispute letter yourself you’ll almost always get a return letter that requests more information about the dispute. This is nothing more than a stall tactic in an attempt on the bureau’s behalf to get you to give up on removing this negative item.

Often you’ll go back and forth with the bureaus any number of times through written correspondence. However you need to practice caution because you can get red flagged by the bureaus and they will not respond or investigate future attempts to challenge an item. This is most often done by disputing an item that is not on that bureaus reports – surprisingly your report will likely vary between all three bureaus.

We would encourage you to hire a credit repair company to dispute the negative items on your report for you. They will insure that the bureaus respond accordingly and comply to federal regulation, and investigate your dispute. Did you know that it is estimated that 80% of all investigations result in the deletion of an item, regardless of the accuracy of it.

The second part of clearing up your credit history that you or a service can do is to settle your outstanding debts. However you cannot just pay these, as that will do nothing to improve your credit. Instead we strongly encourage you to first seek debt validation, this can be done through writing a letter or a service will ensure that they do this.

This will require the collection agency to provide you with legal evidence that shows they have the right to collect from you regarding this debt. There are many rumors in the debt world that collectors will sell accounts, yet they will still still continue to try and collect on that account. In other words out right lawbreaking all an attempt for the debt collectors to profit more.

If the collection agency cannot provide this proof then you’ll not have to pay the debt, and you’ll be able to easily remove it from your credit history. If they are able to verify it, then you will need to settle on this account. However in exchange for your settlement payment you need to negotiate with the agency that they will stop reporting the debt to the credit bureaus. This way when you dispute your report the bureau will not be able to verify the item with the collection agency and it will have to be deleted from your credit file.

Unfortunately trying to work with the collection agencies or the credit bureaus can be a complete nightmare as a consumer. It is filled with false statements, disinformation, and outright lies, the FTC regualarly fine both these industries for complete disregard of the government laws and regulations that are suppose to govern their behavior. This has become common practice because an FTC fine is viewed as the cost of operations. The biggest fine was in the early 2000′s when all three bureaus were collectively fined over a million dollars. To put that in perspective TransUnion reported almost one billion dollars in total revenue for the FIRST QUARTER of 2011. In other words these fines are nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

Due to this many people either give up or will instead turn to legal representation to ensure that their credit history is cleared up and the laws are followed. Don’t be a victim of the bureaus and debt collectors, you have been given the right to fight and protect your credit! For help or a free analysis with a popular credit repair service call 800-251-3505.

 

Credit Clean Up

November 7th, 2011

When you are trying to clean up your credit report you need to be very contentious because believe it or not you can cause problems. First, let us briefly review what and how you can clean up your credit report.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act passed by Congress in 1970 gives you the right to dispute any item you feel is questionable. In other words it is perfectly legal to dispute every negative item on your report – further you can feel an item is in question for any number of reasons; not my account, it is paid, dates are wrong, incorrect balance …

Congress passed this law to ensure you could protect yourself and the ever so important credit score way back in 1970. This three digit number has gotten much more influential with the potential to determine; if you rent or own your home, discretionary cash, purchasing power, self value, peace of mind, and even who you’re employed by.

(An increasingly common tactic – employers are checking a potential employees credit before hiring them)

How To Clean Your Credit

The FCRA says that you can dispute these items with the credit bureaus. The bureaus must in turn investigate the item with the lender and verify that it exists, the dates, and the balance.  If the item is not verified then it must be removed from your report.

The First Step

First and foremost you must get a copy of your report from each bureau, in total 3. Now, you will need to look over your file and make a notation next to the item on each report you want to dispute. You will be surprised it is not uncommon for your report to vary widely from bureau to bureau. And if you dispute an item not listed on your report then that bureau will red flag you and deem all your future attempts to dispute as invalid – in other words you will be blacklisted.

Next, you need to write a dispute letter to each bureau where you tell them; who you are, why you are disputing the item, and include any other relevant documentation. Once the bureaus get your letter they will decide if it is valid. When they determine it is valid they will investigate.

Did you know that 80% of investigations by the bureaus result in the deletion of an item from your report? This is because lenders often are unwilling to spend additional money on your account. Let’s use a collection agency contacting you as an example.

You will be contacted by them through mail and telephone calls for about 6 months, if the agency is unable to collect then they will turn around and sell your debt to another agency who will start contacting you. The original account may have been a credit card, loan, medical bills ….

After the first agency sells your debt they no longer are legally able to collect on it. Therefore they will report the account to the bureaus causing you another negative item and have collected payment when they sold it to anther agency. Now the first agency has no use for your information – there is nothing else they can do with your account so it will go in the trash.

Just keeping the record of your account is going to cost money. When the bureau investigates this item and contacts the first agency and asks them to verify the account it won’t be. The agency has probably trashed your paperwork and will be very hesitant to spend money to have someone physically track it down and verify the details. This is because it is only an expense for the agency and they no longer have any rights to get payment on it – they already did when they sold it to the other debt collector.

If this isn’t a 100% clear you will have to continue to investigate how our credit and debt systems work in America. You will be shocked, surprised, and disgusted!

In the meantime as you take action to clear your credit history you need to be aware that the credit bureaus are often going to ignore your initial dispute letters. They have actually devised a very intricate and elaborate way of dealing with your dispute.

Unfortunately the bureaus don’t like to investigate items because it costs them many and there are no return profits. Therefore they are going to do everything they legally and occasionally illegally to avoid your investigations. The bureaus have been fined over and over again by the FTC for not complying with the FCRA of 1970.

Regardless you can clean up your credit report and you don’t just have to live with a low score. We would encourage you to speak with a credit attorney before giving up! They are actually quite affordable charging about $50 a month and will do EVERYTHING for you. You just send them your reports and tell them what items to erase. If you would like a free credit analysis – call 800-251-3505.

Improve Credit – How You Can Raise Your Credit Score

October 31st, 2011

If you are looking to give your credit score a bump there are a few easy steps to take. And it is clearly worth it as your FICO score impacts so many different aspects of your life!

  1. Pay Your Bills! – DUH, but in all seriousness often people wonder why they can’t get good credit and if you look at just the last three months of their bills they are littered with late and missed payments.It will help tremendously if you pay all your current bills on time. This will start to establish a record of positive payment history with the bureaus. According to experts your payment history is roughly 40% of your overall credit score!
  2. Settle Outstanding Debts – Are you being contacted by collection agencies or lenders? If so you should start looking into settling these accounts. What ever you do – DON’T JUST PAY!!! First if you just pay these debts you will be paying WAY more than you need to and it will do nothing for your credit score. At best you will change the status of a few items with the bureaus but the status will just change to ‘paid’ and this is still a very negative item!You need to negotiate a settlement agreement. You should start your offer at 30% of the total debt this is because the balance they are attempting to collect has been greatly inflated. Collection agencies can legally charge you a fee for their attempt to collect a debt from you, further your account has likely been charged an default interest rate of about 30% now for however old the account is (seriously you could be paying years of high interest charges).

    You also need to have the collection agency agree to stop reporting your account to the bureaus in exchange for your payment. This is a must!! And will explain it more in the next section why this is so important!

    * Helpful hint – before you start negotiating with the debt collector request debt validation. This will require the collection agency to legally show they can collect on your debt. It is not unheard of for collectors to not be able to show this. If that is the case you don’t have to pay and you will be able to get the item off your credit easily.

  3. Dispute Negative Items – This is the most effective part of improving your credit. This is because as long as you have the negative items on your history you will be seen by potential lenders as a risky applicant. However if you remove the negative items your score should see a dramatic increase.

 

Is It Illegal To Remove Bad Credit?

How the myth that it is illegal to repair your credit report came to be is beyond our comprehension. Did you know that Congress in 1970 gave you the right to dispute and remove the negative items on your credit history?

They passed this law called the Fair Credit Reporting Act, in an attempt to give you the right to remove negative items. And it’s a good thing they did because experts estimate that 1 in every 4 credit reports have an error on them! And that seems very plausible when you start thinking about between three bureaus and all the items on a credit report and how easy it is to dial a wrong number. For that reason you could be paying higher fees and interest – because someone else dialed a wrong number!

We believe part of the reason you hear that you just have to live with bad credit is because of how difficult it is to remove these items. You must send a dispute letter to each bureau where you challenge the item. Next the bureaus have to decide you dispute is valid and then they will investigate the item.

The difficult part is getting the bureaus to find your dispute valid. This is because the bureaus burn potential profits when they investigate your dispute – in other words it is in the bureaus financial interest to get you to go away! And they have developed very effective techniques at doing this.

If you get frustrated or would prefer to have a professional do this on your behalf it is not a bad choice. Especially for something as influential as your credit score! If you would like a free credit consultation call 1.800.251.3505 – but don’t give up! You don’t have to just live with a low score!

How To Fix My Credit

October 27th, 2011

Are you looking to get approved for a loan? Or just sick of wasting your hard earned money in astronomical fees? Or tired of feeling humiliated every time your credit is checked?

THERE IS HOPE

And you shouldn’t feel bad! Believe it or not the average American has a Fico score in the low 600′s in other words the average person has bad credit! However the myth that you just have to live with bad credit and all the costs associated with having it (financial, emotional, personal, professional) – is just that – COMPLETE MYTH!

The truth is you can not only remove negative items and without waiting seven long years – but Congress our elected representatives have entitled and given you the right to fix a bad credit score! This right is given to you in the Federal Law of 1970 called the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This law was passed in an attempt to protect consumers from the credit bureaus and overzealous debt collectors.

It says that the maximum amount of time an item can remain on your report is for 7 years. It also says you can dispute ANY item that you feel is inaccurate or made in error.

FYI – it is estimated 25% of ALL credit reports have an error on them – which seems reasonable considering it is as easy as dialing a wrong number for you to get an error on your report!

In other words you can dispute every item on your report as long as “you feel” it is inaccurate or an error. And an item can be inaccurate for any number of reasons: you don’t know what the account is, lender error, the account is paid, the dates are wrong, the balance is wrong, not your account …

Is This Illegal – Can I Face Prosecution?

We can understand your concern – however YOU WILL NEVER FACE ANY NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES! We want to ensure this is loud and clear you will NEVER get in any legal or financial or any trouble except possibly the credit bureaus if you do not file your disputes correctly.

Not a single person has ever faced any prosecution of any form in the 40 plus years people have been given the right to dispute items on their report! It would be in your best interest to dispute all the negative items – however you must decide on what you feel is ethical.

(We believe the bureaus and lenders want you to have a damaged credit score – it is better business for them – more lucrative lending and bigger profits – because you will pay higher interest rates)

The Fair Credit Reporting Act has continued to be updated and unfortunately Congress has been influenced by the heavy and wealthy hands of Big Business and the credit bureaus lobbyists.  There have been some major changes to this law and they do not benefit you the consumer – lets review them!

  1. You are now entitled to a copy of your report from each credit bureau once a year.
  2. Your dispute must be found valid before the bureaus has to investigate the item. This is the dagger to credit disputes.

Why?

Well there are a few reasons but first we need to mention that credit bureaus are private businesses. They have stock holders and earn a profit. Their sales are in the billions of dollars annually! HUGE BUSINESS and all they do is collect information about you and sell that to lenders and other businesses – every time your credit gets checked the bureaus put money in the register!

The bureaus have been regulated and fined by the government for not complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The most egregious of their non compliance happened relatively recently. The bureaus were forced by the government to provide a 800 to consumers.

You could call in and dispute an inaccurate item. Sounds great – quick efficient and it would ensure that your credit report had accurate information. Well the bureaus complied and provided this 800 number however they neglected to hire anyone to answer these phones.

Literally people sat on hold for unbelievable amounts of time – we saw one report of a man sitting on hold for 18 hours before finally just hanging up. In the end the bureaus were collectively fined by the FTC – however the FTC has been routinely fining the credit bureaus and it is arguable that these fines the FTC issues are merely slaps on the wrist or just the cost of operations.

Today the bureau will decide if your dispute is valid before they will investigate. Unfortunately rarely is a consumer dispute valid – and we have never heard of it being valid on a first attempt. The reason is dollars and cents. The credit bureaus lose money when they investigate your dispute.

They earn no extra money for making sure your credit report has accurate information – it means nothing to their financial bottom line. If it has any meaning it is how to limit the number of investigations they conduct as this is an expense and nothing more in the eyes of the bureaus.

Thus, we are very curious why on earth our elected representatives would give the bureaus this power to decide if a dispute is valid when it clearly is in their financial interest to find the dispute invalid and not investigate any item? It doesn’t make any rational sense – which is why we believe it is one more instance of big business influence!

However you can dispute these items yourself – you must remain persistent and continue on in the face of the bureaus and their stall tactics and attempts to get you to give up. The other option is to hire a professional credit attorney to do this on your behalf.

Surprisingly this is very affordable – especially because typically a paralegal will do the majority of the work unless you have some very strange and extenuating circumstances. You should expect to pay about $50 a month and roughly $100 upfront – a typical time frame is about 6-12 months you will need the service but everyone individual has different circumstances – so their is no guarantee.

For a free credit consultation call 800-251-3505

You can also click here and visit Lexington Law Firm – they are a professional credit repair law firm that has been in the business since 1991 and removed 1,297,226 negative items from their clients credit reports in 2010 – alone!

Equifax Dispute Letter

July 15th, 2010

Q. How Can I Write a Good Equifax Dispute Letter?

A. When you are writing a dispute letter to a credit agency or creditor, there are certain questions you should ask in order to produce a positive outcome in your favor.  Below is a basic letter upon which you can base your letter.

Address it to the credit agency:

Dear Equifax Agent:

Re          (Mister Magoo, XXX-XX-1234   Capital Credit Card # 123456789

I am writing to dispute the debt referenced above which you have listed on my credit report.   I believe this to be incorrect as I paid off this balance in 1999..  This is a direct violation of my rights pursuant to Fair Credit Reporting standards.  Please provide me with the following information:

By what authority do you have to collect this debt?  Please provide proof of licensing in my state.  What date do you have for this debt and when it went into default status? Is this repackaged debt which you bought from another collection agency? What is the amount owed?

I believe I am the victim of identity theft and want this debt removed from credit report until which time you can prove this debt belongs to me.

Sincerely yours,

You

Always make a copy of the letter or correspondence for your records.  Send your letter certified mail, return receipt requested.

Lexington Law wrote dozens of dispute letters for their clients.

Credit Dispute Letter Template

June 30th, 2010

Q. Where Can I Find a Good Credit Dispute Letter Template?

A. When you are writing a dispute letter to a credit agency or creditor, there are certain questions you should ask in order to produce a positive outcome in your favor.  Below is a basic template upon which you can base your letter.

Address it to the credit agency:

Dear Experian Agent:

Re:   Your name and the last four numbers of your social security number.  There is no need for you to write the entire number.  Then write the credit item you are addressing

(Maxwell Smart, XXX-XX-1234   Capital Credit Card # 123456789

Your letter should include the following information:

  • Remind them they are violating your rights by listing a erroneous entry.
    • The amount of the debt – Is this the true amount owed, or are there late fees and penalties added.
    • The date it was incurred.
    • Proof of contract – they need to provide something you have signed to prove the debt is really yours.
    • The licensing authority under which the collection agency is operating – they may not even be allowed to operate in your state.
    • What is the date of this debt and does the statute of limitations apply.
    • Has the debt be charged off or sold to another agency?  If it turns out the debt is really yours, you may have already paid the debt before it was repackaged and sold to another collection agency.
    • Request this debt not be reentered at a later date.  Some collection agencies will try to resubmit the erroneous information.
    • If you are the victim of identity theft, make that clear as well.
    • Do NOT list your full social security number, block out the first five with an xxx and list the last four.  This will give them enough information to match with your current report on line.

I am writing to dispute the debt referenced above which you have listed on my credit report.   I believe this to be incorrect as I paid off this balance in 1999..  This is a direct violation of my rights pursuant to Fair Credit Reporting standards.  Please provide me with the following information:

By what authority do you have to collect this debt?  Please provide proof of licensing in my state.  What date do you have for this debt and when it went into default status? Is this repackaged debt which you bought from another collection agency?

I believe I am the victim of identity theft and want this debt removed from credit report until which time you can prove this debt belongs to me.

Sincerely yours,

You

Always make a copy of the letter or correspondence for your records.  Send your letter certified mail, return receipt requested.

Already tried disputing with the bureaus? Here are more advanced credit dispute strategies.

How Do I Dispute Equifax?

June 11th, 2010

Steps to Dispute Equifax Credit Bureau

As a debtor, your rights are protected under the Fair Debt Collection Practices, or FDCPA.  If you feel a debt has been erroneously reported to Equifax, there are certain steps you can take to have debt listed investigated and possibly removed from your credit report. Documentation can help to delete any questionable item.

Equifax has several ways you can request an investigation.

Going directly to their website at www.equifax.com will provide you with a form you fill out, which requests they launch an investigation.  However, these forms are very limited in what you can request and don’t always cover what you may be looking for.

You may also call them directly to dispute Equifax by phone, but then you will not have a hard copy of your conversation, nor will there be any paperwork containing any specific information you may want should the case have to go to court.

For the most effective and legally binding method of requesting an investigation, you must first send a letter to Equifax, commonly known as a Dispute Letter.  They are obligated by law to respond to your query and also to follow on whatever requests you make of them.   Send your letter certified mail, return receipt requested and always make copies of any correspondence you write for yourself.

This letter should include the request for the investigation to be opened; a copy of any documents with your signature stating the debt is, in fact, yours; the date and the amount of the true debt and not including any penalties or fees; and lastly, if the debt has been repackaged.  Of course, there are no time limits on their response time, and they will try to drag it out as long as they can, hoping you will become discouraged and give up.


How To File A Dispute With Equifax

May 24th, 2010

So you found an error on your Equifax Credit Report – you may ask “How do I file a dispute with Equifax Credit Bureau?

When I tried to file a dispute against Equifax, I found it frustrating. They often ignored my disputes or verified negative information with no actual investigation.

If you have been monitoring your credit report with Equifax and find there are some discrepancies, there are steps you can take to fix them.  Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) enacted in 1970, you are protected under the law to have the correct credit information listed, which affects your credit rating.

ou are entitled to a free credit report.  You can find it at www.annualcreditreport.com to retrieve your free credit report under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACT act).

You can also contact them by telephone at (800) 685-1111 to order a free credit report.

If you want to initiate an investigation, you can write to them at Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc., P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374.   You can also open an investigation online at their site at www.equifax.com.

The Customer Care Team can be reached at (866) 547-2622 between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. EST, 7 days a week.  Take advantage of the opportunity to correct any mistakes on your credit report that will jeopardize your financial future.

How Can I Dispute A Bad Credit Listing?

April 21st, 2010

How Can I Dispute Credit – especially bad credit on my reports?”

You may find asking yourself this question after discovering an error or bad credit item on your Experian, Equifax, or Transunion credit reports.

There are many things you can do to help yourself when it comes to disputing a bad credit listing on your credit report.  You have certain rights as a debtor according to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).    The most effective tool you have is a Letter of Dispute, which is addressed to the three major collection agencies.

You are guaranteed certain information once you ask for it in your dispute letter, and they – the credit bureaus – are obligated by law to respond.  However, you can expect that the bureaus, especially in the case of an Experian dispute, to move slowly, hoping that you become frustrated and just give up. 

Don’t give up! Correcting wrong information takes time and patience.  

When writing your dispute letter, include the following information: Ask the debt be deleted immediately upon investigation.  Remind them they are violating your rights by listing a erroneous entry.

You may also have grounds to dispute an entry even if it does belong to you. For instance, demand that they correct the amount of debt.  Find out the date of the debt and proof.  Do they have a contract with your signature?  Otherwise, how can they state the debt is really yours?

NEVER list your full social security number, block out the first five with an xxx and list the last four.  This will give them enough information to match with your current report on line.  

Lastly, always make a copy of whatever you send to them, and send it certified mail with a return receipt request. Credit bureaus encourage you to file disputes online. However, this is for THEIR convenience – not yours. It makes it nearly impossible for you to prove when and how you asked them to investigate bad credit.

When you mail a hard copy letter, you hold the proof should you need it to prove your case in a court of law.