How to Remove a Foreclosure From Your Credit Report

A dip in your financial situation could push you to make late mortgage payments. Unfortunately, creditors expect you to keep paying every month, and a 120-day delay in payments could lead to you losing your house to them. Once they seize your home, they have the right to list it on real estate markets and sell it to another buyer.

While it's stressful enough to lose your home, it worsens once the foreclosure is recorded in your credit report. Foreclosure damages your credit report by contributing to a loss of 90-110 points. Unfortunately, removing a foreclosure entry from your credit report is difficult, especially because of all the follow-up you must do to get it removed.

It's also possible to get help and have a foreclosure entry removed from your credit report without much struggle. DoNotPay's Clean Credit Report product can help access the negative entry on your credit report and help you solve it. 

Aside from clearing your credit report of unwanted entries, here are some of the most common credit-related issues that we can assist you with:

1. Fix your credit score
2. Improve your credit score
3. Remove late payments from your credit history
4. Remove inquiries from your credit reports
5. Dispute a credit report
6. Demand a debt validation letter
7. Write a credit dispute letter

What Is Foreclosure? 

Foreclosure is when a creditor legally seizes a mortgaged property from the mortgagor after they fail to keep up with home loan payments. The creditor has the right to sell the property even at a lower price than its actual value to recover the loan.

Before the creditor resolves to foreclose a property, they actively communicate with the debtor seeking to resolve the debt. However, after significant time has passed, the creditor proceeds to issue an eviction notice to the mortgagor to put the house back into the market.

If you are currently burdened with this issue, it is possible to remove a foreclosure from your credit history.

How to Remove Foreclosure From Credit Report by Yourself

Even though the process of removing a foreclosure entry from your credit report is difficult, it's doable. You can approach the situation in these two ways.

• Find errors in the entry and dispute the foreclosure.
• Request the creditor to remove the foreclosure after re-negotiating payment terms.

Dispute the Foreclosure 

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) insists on fairness and accuracy when entering information on a credit report. Therefore, get all the credit reports from the three credit bureaus, and compare them as you check for any inconsistencies in the information about the foreclosure.

Here are some details to check:

1. Lender Name
2. Account Number
3. Loan Amount
4. Date the account was opened
5. Debt balance

All three reports must have the same information. Therefore, if you notice any inaccuracies, you can dispute the entry to have it removed. When disputing the foreclosure information, your first step is to write a dispute letter to the credit bureaus.

If no action is taken, you can send the dispute letter to the sender to have them verify the information or remove the entry from your credit report. The creditor will have 30 days to take action and fix the inaccuracies or remove the foreclosure.

Re-negotiate Terms with the Creditor

Even after the grace period has elapsed and the creditor has moved to seize the property, some are ready to re-negotiate and agree on new payment terms to help you clear the loan.

You'll need to send a GoodWill Removal Request letter that requests that the creditor remove the foreclosure entry from your credit report and agree to a re-negotiation. Once the creditor receives your letter, they will let you know if you have a chance to re-negotiate or not.

The response to this approach depends entirely on the creditor, and it's not guaranteed that they will accept your request.

The FCRA is implemented by the Federal Trade Commission or FTC, state attorneys general, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If you wish to report a credit for being non-compliant to the FCRA, below are the contact details for the CFPB.

How to Remove Foreclosure From Credit Report with the Help of DoNotPay

Matters involving your credit report can be complicated and leave you wondering which steps to resolve your problem. Once you notice a foreclosure entry on your credit report, DoNotPay can help you figure out the best approach to it and help you through it.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Search Clean Credit Report on DoNotPay.

    

2. Prepare a recent copy of your credit report that you can use as reference.

    

3. Let us guide you through the 4 potential options:

• If you've already paid off your debt, we'll help you file a Goodwill Removal Request to get it removed.

   

• If you notice any errors in your report (we have a list of common errors you can use!), we'll help you file a credit dispute to the creditor or major credit bureaus.

   

• If there are no errors, we'll check if you're still eligible to file a debt validation request. If they can't validate your debt, they're required to remove it from your report, and they can't collect it!

   

• Lastly, if none of the above options work, we'll help you file a pay-to-delete negotiation letter. You can customize the amount you are willing to pay in exchange for getting the item removed.

   

And that's it! DoNotPay will file the appropriate letter on your behalf (mailing is more effective in these cases since it's traceable). You should hear back from the creditor/credit bureau within a few weeks with a response!

Why Use DoNotPay to Remove Foreclosure From Credit Report?

You might have thought of DIY-ing the removal of a foreclosure entry on your credit report which we believe you can. Just a heads up though that any error could create more problems and result in a waste of your resources.

More users are finding that choosing DoNotPay to handle the task instead is proving to be:

• Faster – We have done the research for you and eliminated redundant steps to ensure quick processing times. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we can have the foreclosure removed from your credit report.
• Easier – DoNotPay simply needs important information from you and we’ll do the rest. You can simply sit back and wait for the results.
• More Successful – You can trust DoNotPay to fix your credit report problem without fail. With our legal expertise, you can depend on the best possible outcome.

What Else Can DoNotPay Solve for You? 

DoNotPay is not only an expert with credit report issues. Below are other tasks that we can assist you with:

• Help with bills
• Late delivery refunds
• How to cancel any service or subscription.
• Financial aid appeal letters.
• Jump the phone queue for any company
• Request an item return
• Fight workplace discrimination

Sign up with DoNotpay right now and unlock endless services that are all designed to make your life easier.