We got this question from Bill who is wondering how often he should file a credit report dispute:

Hello,

I am amazed and delighted by your professionalism.  I believe I can handle from here, but have two questions.  I don’t anticipate more freebies, so if you can tell me the fee for your advice and address, in advance, I’ll immediately send you a check.  Not crazy about sending credit card.  The two questions:

1.  I plan to send a credit dispute letter, patterned after the version you generously provided.  I guess I would then harangue them every 30 days and be a general pest.  Is that about right?

2.  I have a home equity loan for many thousands (when added to mortgage balance, I am still well into the black on current home value).  But the home equity loan shows as “revolving credit” on my reports.  I suspect that may be harmful to my credit rating (e.g., could be viewed as unsecured debt).  I wrote to bank (also attached).  What can be done to ensure the least negative impact on credit score for an open-ended home equity loan?

Neither is urgent, and I am happy to pay in advance, sir.  Best Regards.

Bill

Hi Bill,

1. With respect to your first question on how often you should dispute bad credit, the answer is not necessarily every 30 days. The bureaus have about 30 days to investigate your dispute. So, there will be a delay in the time you receive the results of the investigation. In other words, you will need to allow for time for the mail to deliver your dispute letter and then for the bureaus to respond. I would suggest you wait until you get the results of your investigation back in the mail before filing another credit report dispute.

2. With respect to the unsecured credit issue, obviously the listing is technically inaccurate since your home is securing the line of credit.

However, I don’t know whether this is necessarily damaging your credit score. The bureaus keep the scoring formula top secret so there is no way to know what impact this is having on your score. However, some people accurately guess that one big factor is the balance to available credit ratio.

In other words, I would be really concerned only if the listing shows that your balance is close to your available home equity line. If your balance is low relative to your available credit, it probably is not hurting your score.

If this is the case, then having it changed to a SECURED line, is pretty much a crapshoot when it comes to the impact on your score.

Sorry I couldn’t be more specific, but I with you the best of luck.