How to Get a Foreclosure Off a Credit Report

When someone fails to pay their home loan, also known as a mortgage, the lender forecloses on the home and sells it to offset their losses from the delinquency. Having a foreclosure on a credit report is a seriously damaging entry. When a foreclosure happens, the lender usually reports it to the credit bureaus Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and the negative information remains on file for 7 years. If the foreclosure really did not happen, it is easier to get the entry off a credit report. While it is impossible to guarantee getting a correct foreclosure off a credit report, there are ways to increase your chances of doing so.

Step 1

Contact each credit reporting agency, noting the foreclosure claim against you to dispute the validity of this information (see Resources below). Though you can do this online or via the telephone, it is usually better to write a letter for record-keeping and tracking purposes. If the foreclosure claim is technically true, be careful what you say in your letter. Write something along the lines of "the foreclosure data reflected on my credit file is not correct." This could be true, because most credit report entries have some form of inaccurate data such as how much money was paid toward the debt. If you can keep your dispute general and plausible, then your chances of getting the foreclosure entry removed from your credit files greatly increases.

Step 2

Send your dispute letters through certified mail to the appropriate credit bureaus as follows: Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc., P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374; Experian, 701 Experian Parkway, Allen, TX 75013; and TransUnion, 2 Baldwin Place, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19022.

Step 3

Calling the credit reporting agencies could bring faster results. However, proceed with caution if the foreclosure claim against your reports is true. The appropriate phone numbers are the following: Equifax at (800) 685-1111 ; Experian at (888) 397-3742 ; and TransUnion at (800) 916-8800.

Step 4

Write or call the lender reporting the foreclosure on your credit reports if it really did not happen. You can find their phone number and address on your credit files or by using the Internet. Explain that you are not the person they foreclosed on and that you need this inaccurate and damaging information immediately removed from your credit files.

Step 5

Keep contacting the credit bureaus with your disputes if the foreclosure did happen yet you still want it removed. However, you should only do this about every 6 months to avoid having your letters flagged as possibly fraudulent.

Step 6

Sue the lender in your local Small Claims Court if the foreclosure claim is false and the finance company or bank will not take it off your credit files. Your local court will have a simple packet of forms that you can fill out in order to do this.