You can dispute inaccurate or incomplete information on your credit report at no charge. A strong dispute identifies the exact error, explains why it is wrong, includes supporting records, and creates a clear paper trail. That record may become important if the credit bureau or company that supplied the information fails to conduct a reasonable investigation.
This guide explains the practical steps for disputing a credit-report error. It provides general information rather than legal advice about a particular case.
Contents
Step 1: Obtain complete reports from all three bureaus
Request your reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion through AnnualCreditReport.com, the federally authorized source. Online reports are currently available weekly at no charge. Checking your own report does not reduce your credit score.
Save or print the complete report. A monitoring-app screenshot may omit the account number, reporting dates, furnisher name, inquiry details, or other information needed to understand the problem. Compare all three reports because an error may appear differently—or may appear on only one.
Step 2: Identify exactly what is inaccurate or incomplete
Mark each disputed item and write a short explanation of the problem. Common examples include:
- An account that belongs to another person
- An identity-theft account or inquiry
- An incorrect balance, payment history, account status, or date
- A debt reported after bankruptcy in a misleading manner
- The same account reported more than once
- Information that was deleted and later reinserted
- An account reported beyond the applicable reporting period
- An inaccurate public record or background-screening result
A low credit score by itself is not the error. Identify the underlying information that is factually inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, obsolete, or not yours.
Step 3: Gather documents that prove the error
The supporting records depend on the dispute. They may include:
- Account statements or payment confirmations
- Letters or emails from the creditor
- Bankruptcy petitions, schedules, and discharge orders
- Identity-theft reports and police reports
- Court orders or public-record documents
- Proof that you are not the person associated with an account
- Earlier dispute results or reports showing that information was deleted
Send copies, not irreplaceable originals. Remove unrelated sensitive information when possible, but leave enough information to connect each document to the disputed item.
Step 4: Prepare a clear dispute
A useful dispute should include:
- Your full name and current address
- Enough identifying information for the bureau to locate your file
- The report or confirmation number, if available
- The creditor or furnisher name and partial account number
- A precise description of what the report says
- A direct explanation of why it is inaccurate or incomplete
- A request to correct or delete the disputed information
- Copies of the report and supporting records
Address each error separately. Avoid vague statements such as “everything is wrong.” Do not bury the central issue in unrelated complaints. A reviewer should be able to understand the claimed error and find the supporting proof quickly.
Should you dispute online or by mail?
The FCRA does not require every dispute to be mailed. Online disputes can be convenient and provide immediate confirmation. A written dispute sent with trackable delivery can make it easier to preserve the exact language and every enclosure. Whichever method you use, keep an exact copy or screenshot of the complete submission and proof of when the bureau received it.
Use the current dispute instructions and addresses provided on your report or the bureau’s official website. Bureau addresses and procedures can change, so do not rely solely on an old article or form.
Step 5: Consider disputing with the furnisher
A furnisher is the company that supplied information to a credit bureau, such as a bank, lender, loan servicer, credit-card company, or debt collector. You may also send the furnisher a direct dispute identifying the inaccurate information and including supporting records.
A bureau dispute remains especially important. When a credit bureau sends a qualifying consumer dispute to the furnisher, the FCRA may impose investigation duties that matter in a later claim against that furnisher. Learn more on our furnisher failure-to-investigate page.
Step 6: Preserve proof of the dispute and resulting harm
Create one folder containing:
- The report showing the error
- Your complete dispute and every enclosure
- Tracking records or online confirmation
- The bureau’s investigation results
- Updated reports
- Creditor or furnisher responses
- Denial and adverse-action notices
- Loan offers, interest rates, housing records, or employment communications
- A timeline describing what happened and when
Preserving evidence is important because the later report may look different, an online portal may stop displaying the submission, and the connection between the inaccurate report and resulting damages may otherwise be difficult to establish.
How long does the investigation take?
A consumer reporting agency generally must investigate within 30 days. In some circumstances, it may have up to 45 days, including when the consumer provides additional relevant information during the investigation. The bureau generally must send written results and an updated report after completing the investigation. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains the investigation timeline.
The bureau does not have to delete every item merely because it was disputed. It must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation and correct or delete information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified. A bureau may reject a dispute as frivolous or irrelevant in limited circumstances, but it must provide notice.
Step 7: Review the investigation results carefully
Do not rely only on a statement that the account was “updated” or “verified.” Obtain the updated report and compare every disputed field. Determine whether the bureau corrected the actual problem, made only a minor change, deleted the item, or left the material inaccuracy in place.
If the result is unclear, you may request information about the procedure used to determine accuracy and completeness. Keep that request and the response with your other records.
What if the error remains after the dispute?
A second dispute may be appropriate when you have new evidence or can identify a specific issue the first investigation failed to address. Repeating the same vague dispute without additional information may not help. When a significant error remains after a documented dispute, consider speaking with an FCRA lawyer before important evidence is lost or a filing deadline passes.
Depending on the facts, a claim may involve a bureau’s accuracy procedures or reinvestigation, a furnisher’s investigation, identity-theft blocking duties, reinsertion, or another FCRA requirement. An error alone does not guarantee a lawsuit or recovery.
Special types of credit-report disputes
- Mixed credit files and another person’s accounts
- Identity-theft credit reporting
- Unauthorized hard inquiries
- Deleted information that was reinserted
- Credit-report errors after bankruptcy discharge
When should you contact an FCRA lawyer?
Legal review may be useful when the error remains after a clear dispute, the bureau repeatedly verifies information without addressing your documents, a furnisher ignores evidence, identity-theft information is not blocked, deleted information returns, or an inaccurate report causes a denial, higher interest rate, lost housing, or lost employment.
Read how an FCRA lawyer evaluates credit-report errors and our FCRA lawsuit guide.
Talk with a Florida FCRA lawyer
Fowkes & Hasanbasic represents Florida consumers in claims involving inaccurate credit reports, mixed files, identity theft, unauthorized inquiries, reinsertion, furnisher investigations, bankruptcy reporting, and faulty employment or tenant-screening reports. Visit our Florida FCRA resource hub or call (727) 500-1010 for a free case review. FCRA matters are handled on a contingency basis, so clients do not pay attorney’s fees out of pocket unless the firm obtains a recovery.
Reviewed by Paul R. Fowkes
Paul R. Fowkes is a Florida attorney and founding partner of Fowkes & Hasanbasic. He represents consumers in Fair Credit Reporting Act cases involving inaccurate credit reporting, identity theft, mixed files, bankruptcy reporting, and inadequate reinvestigations. Read Paul R. Fowkes’s attorney profile.