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Credit Advice
Topics addressed on August 5, 2009:
Updating your report when a tax lien is released
Dear Experian,
I have a tax lien release from the IRS. I was going to send it to all bureaus until I read that the credit bureaus get tax lien information automatically from the courts. Does the IRS usually update the bureaus? If not, how and when do you pick up that information?
- HMS
Dear HMS,
Experian does collect tax lien information from the courts and would get an update on a federal tax lien from the Internal Revenue Services, as well.
You don’t have to do anything to have the status of the lien updated to show that it is released. It should be updated automatically within a relatively short time. However, if you need the update to be added immediately or find that it has not been received for our automatic update, you can send the tax lien release information yourself directly to Experian and each of the other two national credit reporting companies.
The first step is to get a copy of your personal credit to verify whether or not the status of the lien has been updated. If it has not, you can dispute the status stating that it should indicate the lien was released. You can do all of this easily and quickly online.
At that time you will receive instructions to mail documentation verifying the lien was released. With those documents, Experian should be able to update the status of the lien.
The lien will not be removed, however. Rather, the entry will show that the lien was paid and released. The tax lien will remain for seven years from the paid date.
Thanks for asking.
- The "Ask Experian" team