How to Remove Paid Liens From Your Account

Liens against you seriously affect your credit score and your ability to receive a new line of credit. Paying the lien off as quickly as possible is the best way to repair your credit, but even paid liens remain on your credit report for as long as seven years. There is a way to remove paid liens from your credit report: file a dispute with the credit reporting agency. You will need to obtain copies of your credit report from the three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) and to draft a dispute letter if you want to remove paid lines from your account.

Instructions

1

Go to www.annualcreditreport.com. This is the only site (as of 2010) that allows you to receive a free copy of your credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies. You can receive one free copy from each agency per year. If you already received a copy of your credit report during this year, you will have to pay for the information.

2

View and print each of your three credit reports by selecting your state, requesting a report, and filling in the necessary information at annualcreditreport.com.

3

Locate entries on your credit reports that show the lien has been paid. Note the year: if it has been more than seven years since the last activity on that account, the lien should have been removed automatically. If less than seven years has passed, you can try to remove it from your report by drafting a dispute letter.

4

Draft a dispute letter. Include your name and contact information. In the first paragraph, explain why you are disputing the information (such as the lien is over seven years old or because it has been paid off). Attach copies of your credit report with the letter.

5

Gather proof that you lien is paid off. Add this proof to your letter. This is not required, but it may help your chances at getting the lien removed from your report.

6

Send your dispute letter to the appropriate credit agency. For example, if you found the paid lien information on a report from Equifax, send the dispute letter back to Equifax. Visit Equifax, Experian and TransUnion on the Internet to send the dispute over the Internet.

7

Wait 30 days. Credit agencies have a month to correct the information and to send you a letter regarding what actions they took to your account (if any). Agencies might not remove the lien because seven years have not past or because they cannot verify the information contained in your letter. If they reject your dispute due to an inability to verify information, try to resubmit the dispute letter addressing the agency's concerns with proof.