Who signs and sends the dispute letters?
This article aims to clear up any questions and common concerns around signing and sending dispute letters.
Table of contents:
To start, make sure you have the following:
Should my clients send the dispute letters themselves? :
As a credit repair specialist, your clients are paying you to do two simple things:
To send dispute letters to the credit bureaus/furnishers for them.
To teach them how to better manage their credit.
But what about having the clients sign the letters?
By law, dispute letters need a real signature. To save time, many companies have the clients sign a limited power of attorney (or the “Authorization for Credit Repair Action” that's already included in your default online agreement) and then they sign the client’s name for them.
Here's what most companies do:
(Recommended) If your client has signed the “Authorization for Credit Repair Action”, you simply sign the client’s name on their behalf. The client is paying you for "Document Processing" and "Credit Repair Education", so why not just send the letter for them? This is definitely the better way to go. It's a nice service for your client and the price of a stamp is minimal.
(Alternate method) If you trust your clients to sign the letter themselves, you can send the letter to the client. Export it as PDF and attach it to an email (your own email) or attach it to a secure message from the client’s dashboard. Keep in mind, this is problematic, as you're depending on a client who may not handle this responsibility well (we do not recommend running your business this way).
What to include for a Round 1 letter?
*Later rounds don’t need this*
Photo ID (i.e. driver’s license)
Proof of address (i.e. utility bill or something official with your client’s name and address)
What other forms of ID and Proof of Address are acceptable?
Driver’s license
State ID card
Bank or Credit Union statement
Cancelled check
Government-issued ID card
Signed letter from a homeless shelter
Stamped Post Office Box receipt
Utility bill (water, gas, electric, or telephone)
Pay Stub
When providing these two (2) forms of qualified documents, please be sure that they are not older than 2 months. State-issued IDs must be current with the current address listed if your client is using the ID as proof of address.
Should letters be sent using certified mail?
Many people do send these by Certified mail but it's up to you. It's not required but does give an awesome paper trail.
What return address should be on the envelope?
The address on the envelope and the letter must be your client's address.
How will I know when report changes happen?
The credit bureaus and creditors will send their replies directly to your client. Ask your client to forward all correspondence to you so you can keep their records up to date.
If you have manually imported report items (from incompatible providers, PDF reports, etc) and once you’ve received an update about an item, click here to learn how to update that item in your software.
Instead, if you have used the 1-Click Import feature for the given client, click here to learn how to import/reimport the reports to update your client's items.
What you can do now: