Experian receives anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 pieces of mail every day, but only employs 10-14 sorters to review the mail for suspicious characteristics and letters ARE NOT reinvestigated without further action taken by the consumer requesting or demanding a reinvestigation.
In plain English, if a mail sorter at the credit bureau sees any of the following things, they mark it as “suspicious” and will likely deny your request.
This warning is to tell their mail sorters how to tell if the letter is from a credit repair businesses rather than the actual consumer.
SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERISTICS INCLUDE:
1) A return address on the letter itself is different from the return address on the envelope.
2) A stack of envelopes come in where the postmark is in the same city but the return addresses are in different cities.
3) Letters with a similar letter format (looks like a template used for a batch of letters).
4) Signature found on an enclosed document differs from the signature on the letter.
5) Data on the enclosed document does not appear logical.
6) When five or more letters from different consumers are in a batch of mail containing the same listed characteristics, the sorter can reasonably conclude that they not have been mailed by the consumer and can mark them suspicious.
7) When a batch of letters come in together that are similar in type, size, ink color, or font.
If you are doing your own credit repair, you already have an advantage, because your lone envelope and letter won’t come in with a batch. But pay attention to #4, #5 because you could get flagged for those.
And, look at #3. You don’t want your letter to look like a “609 template letter,” or any template letter. That’s why I recommend customizing your letters just a little, but without going overboard in saying too much. Keep is simple, straight-forward, and compliant with the law.
Many thanks to Kate Upgrading, founder of No Bar Code Printing & Mailing, Ltd. for sharing this insider information.