Step-by-Step Guide to Removing Bankruptcies From Credit Reports

Hey, credit heroes. A bankruptcy may be the single most damaging thing that can appear on your credit report, but it's not a death sentence. That's why today I'm going to share my secrets to removing bankruptcies. So you better stick around.

So the big question is, how can we take our passion for helping people with their credit and turn it into a successful business without taking loans? Without spending a fortune by bootstrapping it from nothing so we can help the most people and still become highly profitable? That is the question and this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Daniel Rosen and welcome to Credit Repair Business Secrets.

If this is your first time listening to my podcast, every week I give credit repair tips and advice on bootstrapping your business from nothing. So be sure to click subscribe now and get ready to start changing lives. Okay, let's get into this. In the 20 years since releasing my first credit repair software, I've helped thousands of businesses scale from the ground up. I've also seen a lot of people deal with bankruptcies, and I've seen how disruptive it can be to their lives and to their credit. If you have a bankruptcy on your credit report, it's almost always going to result in an automatic no from lenders, employers, or even landlords. But a bankruptcy doesn't mean you're a bad person. No, it usually just means that you went through a tough time. Maybe you lost your job or had a health crisis or even got divorced. Anything that caused a huge change in your finances. Here's how this relates to us. Bankruptcy is a legal process that allows individuals or businesses to eliminate, restructure, and repay their debts under the protection of a court. The impact of a personal bankruptcy depends on what your credit was like before you filed. The higher your credit score was, the further it'll fall. And depending on the type of bankruptcy, they can stay on your credit report for seven to 10 years. Here's the thing to remember. Whenever there's a bankruptcy on a credit report, a great first step is to talk to a consumer law attorney or an FCRA attorney, send them the report, have them review it, and get feedback on it. What a lot of people don't tell you is that there are ways to dispute bankruptcies and even have them removed from your credit report. You see, bankruptcies are filed with the courts, not with the credit bureaus, so that means they are public records. The courts don't actually send these public records to the credit bureaus. No, the credit bureaus purchase this information from companies like PACER and Lexisnext that's right. Most people don't realize that public records aren't reported to your credit report by the courts. No, the credit bureaus are actually going out and gathering these records on their own, and I don't think that's very fair. Here's why this is important. When the credit bureaus receive public records from LexisNexis, they don't list the actual furniture. The furnisher of information is usually noted as something like the recorder of Deeds or municipal court, which is not truly the actual furniture. So this is a case of false reporting, which is in direct violation of the Fair Credit Reporting act and a perfect reason to remove any public record. Here's what you need to know. As always, you should always start the credit repair process by disputing any incorrect or outdated information on your credit report. If that doesn't work, you need to be diligent and make sure the bureaus are following the FCRA Spoiler alert. We already know they're probably violating the false reporting part. After you dispute the incorrect or outdated information, you want to follow these simple steps. Step 1 Get access to your info in PACER, which is a public records database that companies like LexisNexis use to gather our data. Anyone can access these records for free. You just need to sign up for an account. Step 2 Request a consumer disclosure report from LexisNexis. Thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting act, they're required to provide you with a copy for free. Step 3 Once you have the PACER account records and the LexisNexis consumer disclosure account, you want to look through both and compare the information. If you find any inconsistencies, do not dispute them with LexisNexis just like you would with any credit bureau. They follow the very same rules. Getting a bankruptcy removed from your LexisNexis report makes it much easier to remove with the credit bureaus. Step 4 Dispute the bankruptcy with the credit bureaus. And you do this just like you would any other item. If the bureau verifies the information, then move on to the next step. Step 5 Send a letter to the clerk of the court where you originally filed the bankruptcy. There's no need to get into specifics. Just tell them that you disputed the bankruptcy with the three major credit bureaus and those credit bureaus confirm that the record was verified by the court and to please provide the court's procedure for verifying records with credit bureaus. I've even made it really easy for you by giving you the exact letter you need just download my public record dispute letter templates and@creditrepaircloud.com public record dispute and then add your information to the clerk of the court letter and I'm also going to put that link over in the show notes. Now here's a pro tip. When you send this letter to the clerk of the court, send along a self address stamped envelope to make it really really easy for them to respond. But here's the thing, the clerk of the court will usually respond with a letter explaining that they don't report to the credit bure bureaus and that's what you want. Step 6 Make a copy of this letter that you received from the clerk and send it to the credit bureaus along with a demand for deletion. All you need to say is that you've disputed the bankruptcy with them and they verify the item is accurate stating that they verified the information with the court. Be sure to have the public record name and the reference number and then let the bureau's know that you contacted the court and you're providing their response detail that the court does not report to any credit bureau. Therefore their initial response verifying the item with the court was either an error or a lie. Either way, the reporting requirements do not comply with FCRA and the information must be deleted immediately. And then drop the mic. It's all about finding what's wrong on the account and then trying to get the bureaus to verify wrong information. So so the name of the game is leverage. Who has the most leverage? When you have leverage, you have more power. The bureaus know the law and they understand that they have a potential violation if they don't remove it, so they'll typically respond with a deletion. If the bankruptcy is deleted, you'll soon be able to qualify for loans and lines of credit without dealing with the predatory high interest rates that keep people with bad credit stuck in the never ending cycle of debt. If the bureaus refused to delete the bankruptcy despite your valid reason, it's now time to file a complaint with the CFPB because you have a valid reason for removal and you're entitled to fair and accurate reporting. And here's a bonus pro after you dispute a bankruptcy with a credit bureau and they take it off, sometimes the charges that cause you to file for bankruptcy in the first place they pop back on the report. So take it upon yourself to try to get those off by saying they were included in the bankruptcy that you asked to take off. The credit bureaus are usually pretty fair about working with you to get that kind of stuff updated. Just make sure you keep all documentation and make sure you cross all your t's and dot your I's. And again, if you'd like copies of these public record dispute letters, you can download them all for free at creditrepaircloud.com public record dispute and again, I'm going to put that link over there in the show notes. And here's my final point. Bankruptcy may be the single most damaging item that can appear on a credit report. But what most people don't tell you is that they can be disputed and even removed. So whatever you do, don't give up. Disputing a bankruptcy may not be the fastest process, but success is a major step to financial recovery. So it's always worth the effort. And now for my favorite part of the episode. Every week I feature one of our credit heroes inside our Credit Repair Cloud Facebook community so that you can see firsthand what real people are doing as they run and grow their business. And today's spotlight is on Tony Lean here. Tony posted a huge win in our community. He said bankruptcy record removed from TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. Congratulations Tony. We all know exactly how damaging bankruptcies can be and what a big accomplishment this is. Keep Changing Lives Tony, I'm so proud of you and I'll end by saying if you still need a credit repair cloud account, check it out. It's a software that most credit repair businesses in America run on. Just sign up for a 30 day free trial at creditrepaircloud.com freetrial and if you'd like to improve your credit score and learn how to earn extra income repairing Credit for others, check out our brand new Start Repairing Credit Challenge. Doors are closing soon and by the way, it's completely free. So sign up right now@startrepairingcredit.com and if you find value in the things that I share on this podcast, click below to subscribe and follow. Also, give me a five star review or share the show and help me to change more lives. If you'd like to read the show notes, they're posted on my blog. If you have a question or a comment, drop it down below because I read each and every one of them. I would love to hear from you and and I'll respond as soon as I can. And if you want to learn how to rebuild your credit, check out my podcast on the Ultimate Guide to Credit Builder Loans. So take care credit Hero and keep changing lives.

Hey everybody. It's Daniel again, and really quick. I'd like to invite you to join what I believe is the best thing we have ever created inside the Credit Repair cloud community. And it is a challenge that we call the Credit Hero Challenge. If you're just planning out your business or you're just getting it started and you dream of having a successful business of your own so you can quit your 9 to 5 and fire your boss and have financial freedom, or so you can add another revenue stream to your existing business, if that's your dream, you need to get into this challenge. We created this challenge to help you to create and launch your very own credit repair business to build a proper foundation for a really successful business. This challenge is going to help you to understand the strategy, the tactics, and all the things you need to be successful at Credit Repair. It really is the greatest thing we have ever built and it will change your life. So I recommend you do it right now. Stop everything. Pause this audio, go online and go to creditherochallenge.com that's creditherochallenge.com and join the next challenge. And there's a challenge that's starting in just a few days. So go get started right now@creditherochallenge.com.