The best time to dispute erroneous credit report items is when companies merge, says reader Thomas. It’s a little gray hat but hey, power to the people.

Thomas writes:

“I’ve found that the best time to clean up problems in credit history is when companies merge with or are bought out by other companies. Frequently, a lot of the payment history details are lost when IT systems are merged. I had a student loan I didn’t realize was back in repayment, and it caused me problems for years. Then that student loan company was acquired by another. For the third time, I disputed the information and it was deleted because the new company was unable to provide any details or evidence.”

— BEN POPKEN

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