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Information Credit Report

Mark Cappel
UpdatedJan 26, 2010

The credit reporting agencies lost the positive history in my credit report. What can I do?

I took out my first mortgage in March of 1993. Having to relocate overseas for a job, I sold my house in 1995 or 19996, I can't quite remember now. I am looking to buy a house now and in the process of getting prepared credit wise for a new mortgage, I pulled all 3 credit bureau reports. No un-pleasant surprises, good credit and steady payments as should be. The only problem that I saw was that all the old positive info was gone. No mortgage appears, no car loan info, and most of the old positive credit card info is gone. All that is left now are four credit card accounts, all current and good but only within the span of the last 2 years. None of the old good positive accounts are there!! I am the type who forgets and I don't keep many records for many years. Also I should've ran my credit reports a lot more frequently. Now, having said that, how can I find out who my old mortgage servicer was so that I can ask them to re-instate the old mortgage info on my credit file? Do I need to get a copy of the old deed from the County Clerk's office (I believe that's where the old deed was recorded) and will it be of any use to me?

Positive information can appear on a credit report indefinitely. But not always as your message points out. I do not know why the credit reporting agencies (CRAs) removed your positive history. There is no penalty in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) for CRAs if they remove positive credit history from a credit report. The only general requirement the CRAs have is to provide accurate information. In your case, you would argue that deleting positive history makes your credit report inaccurate, but to my knowledge this issue has not been litigated.

Only the bank that held your mortgage can add the history to your credit report. There is no way for you to do so. Under §611(b) of the FCRA, you can add a consumer statement to your credit report. See How to Add a Statement to Your Credit Report for instructions on amending your report.

To learn more about correcting information in a credit report, see the Bills.com resource Credit Report Errors.

I hope this information helps you Find. Learn & Save.

Best,

Bill

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