A wrong late payment or an account you never opened can cost you a loan, a lower rate, or an apartment. You have a legal right to dispute an error on your credit report, and the process costs nothing. The credit bureaus and the company that reported the information both have to fix mistakes for free, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
This guide walks through each step: finding the error, deciding who to contact, writing the letter, and what happens after you send it.
Step 1: Get all three reports and mark the errors
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion each keep a separate file on you, so an error can show up on one report and not the others. The FTC says you can check each report for free every week at AnnualCreditReport.com. That is the only site the law set up for free reports. Other sites that ask for a card number are selling something.
Go through each report section by section. Our guide on how to read your credit report line by line explains what each section means. Look for:
- Accounts you did not open
- Payments marked late that you made on time
- A balance or credit limit that is wrong
- A closed account still listed as open
- The same debt listed twice, for example by the original lender and a collection agency, both showing a balance
- A wrong name, address, or Social Security number
- Negative items older than the reporting limit
On that last point, the FTC says credit bureaus can report most accurate negative information for seven years and bankruptcy for 10 years. An accurate late payment from four years ago is not an error, even if it hurts. A dispute only works on information that is wrong, incomplete, or cannot be verified.
If you find accounts you never opened, you may be dealing with identity theft. Start at IdentityTheft.gov and read our identity theft recovery guide before you dispute. The steps differ.
Step 2: Decide who to dispute with
You can dispute with two parties, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recommends contacting both:
- The credit bureau that shows the error. If all three show it, dispute with all three. A fix at one bureau does not carry over to the others unless the lender corrects its records with all of them.
- The furnisher, meaning the company that sent the information to the bureau. That could be your bank, card issuer, landlord, or a collection agency.
Disputing with the furnisher matters because it controls the data at the source. When a furnisher finds its information was wrong, it has to tell every bureau it reports to.
Step 3: Gather your proof
Your dispute is only as strong as your documents. Before you write anything, pull together copies of what supports your side:
- Bank statements or canceled checks that show a payment went through on time
- A letter from the lender confirming a paid or settled balance
- Court records showing a judgment was vacated or a bankruptcy was discharged
- Your ID and a recent utility bill if your name or address is wrong
Send copies. The FTC and CFPB both say to keep your originals.
Step 4: Write and send the dispute letter
You can dispute online or by phone, but a written letter by certified mail gives you proof of what you sent and when the bureau received it. The CFPB says a dispute letter to a credit bureau should include:
- Your full name, address, and phone number
- The report confirmation number, if your report has one
- Each item you are disputing, with the account number
- Why each item is wrong
- A request to correct or delete the item
- A copy of the report page with the error circled or highlighted
- Copies of your supporting documents
Keep it short and factual. One page per error is plenty. Both the CFPB and the FTC publish free sample letters you can adapt.
The FTC lists these dispute addresses and phone numbers:
- Equifax: Equifax Information Services LLC, P.O. Box 740256, Atlanta, GA 30348. Phone (866) 349-5191
- Experian: Experian, P.O. Box 4500, Allen, TX 75013. Phone (888) 397-3742
- TransUnion: TransUnion LLC Consumer Dispute Center, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016. Phone (800) 916-8800
For the furnisher, use the dispute address listed on your credit report. If there isn’t one, call the company and ask where it takes credit reporting disputes.
Step 5: Track the investigation
After you file, the clock starts. According to the FTC and CFPB:
- The credit bureau generally has 30 days to investigate.
- The bureau forwards your dispute and documents to the furnisher, which has to investigate and report back.
- A furnisher you dispute with directly generally has 30 days to investigate and respond.
- If the bureau decides your dispute is “frivolous,” for example because you didn’t say what was wrong, it can stop investigating. It has to tell you why within five business days of that decision.
Mark the date on your calendar. Keep your certified mail receipt with a copy of the letter.
Step 6: Read the results
The bureau has to send you the results in writing. If your report changes because of the dispute, the FTC says you also get a free copy of the updated report.
If the bureau corrected or deleted the item, you can ask it to send a notice of the correction to anyone who pulled your report in the past six months, or in the past two years for employment checks. Do this if you were turned down for credit or a job because of the error.
Pull your reports again a month or two later. Make sure the error stayed gone and did not reappear on a different bureau’s report.
What to do if your dispute is rejected
A rejection doesn’t close the matter. You have several options:
- Dispute again with new evidence. If the first dispute lacked documents, send them. A repeat dispute with nothing new is more likely to be labeled frivolous.
- Go to the furnisher directly if you only disputed with the bureau.
- Add a statement to your file. The CFPB says you can ask the bureau to include a short statement explaining the dispute. Anyone who pulls your report later will see it.
- File a complaint with the CFPB. The CFPB forwards complaints to the company and works to get a response.
- Talk to a consumer lawyer if the error is serious and the bureau or lender won’t fix it. The Fair Credit Reporting Act lets you sue in some cases.
Watch out for credit repair companies
Some companies charge monthly fees to file disputes you can file yourself for free. Anyone who promises to remove accurate negative information is making a promise the law does not allow them to keep. Accurate information stays until its reporting period ends. If you owe on an accurate collection account, our guide on how removing a collections account works covers the options that do exist.
Quick checklist
- Pull all three reports and circle each error
- Gather copies of proof for each one
- Send a dispute letter by certified mail to each bureau showing the error
- Send a separate letter to the company that reported it
- Mark 30 days on your calendar
- Read the written results and check your reports again
For more on keeping your reports clean, see how often you should check your credit report and the rest of our Credit Center.
