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- As documentation of your credit history, your credit reports need to be accurate.
- Look for inaccuracies in your personal information and accounts, such as your delinquency status.
- Sign up for a credit monitoring service such as Credit Karma to keep tabs on your credit report.
Your credit report documents your credit-related activity, resulting in your credit score, which lenders use to set the terms of any money you borrow. If you want the best interest rates on a credit card, mortgage, or personal line of credit, you'll want to ensure your credit report accurately reflects your credit history.
Checking your credit report periodically is also the best way to stay on top of any fraudulent purchases, inaccurate information, or identity theft issues that crop up.
While you can hire companies to help with all of the above, even the best identity theft protection services and the best credit monitoring services usually stop short of reporting errors on your credit report to the credit bureaus. However, you can dispute an error on your credit report yourself through several easy steps.
Understanding credit disputes
What is a credit dispute?
A credit dispute is a formal request to a credit bureau to investigate, update, or remove information on your credit report that you think is inaccurate or incorrect. You can dispute information on your credit report with any of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Common reasons for filing a credit dispute
Reasons why someone would dispute items on their credit report include:
- Inaccurate information: This could include wrong balances, incorrect payment history, account status, or credit limit. It could also be due to a creditor accidentally entering the wrong information.
- Outdated information: Negative items, except for bankruptcy, should appear on a credit report for seven years. If negative entries are older than seven years, they can be disputed and removed.
- Unverified information: Items that someone believes cannot be verified for accuracy can be disputed.
- Identity theft: Inaccurate information on a credit report could be a sign of identity theft. If there are credit accounts that you did not open and are a result of identity theft, they can be disputed.
Steps to file a credit dispute
1. Obtain your credit reports
Before you can object to anything in your credit report, you'll need to gain access to it to see what's in there. Everyone is eligible for one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit bureaus — which are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — from AnnualCreditReport.com.
Setting a reminder to check in with a different agency every four months is a great way to keep an eye on your credit report throughout the year.
2. Review and identify errors on your credit report
Once you receive the report (which happens instantly), make sure you go through the report itself carefully and thoroughly. You can double-check any reports of new lines of credit, missing or late payments on current credit cards or loans, and check out which hard inquiries have popped up.
Common inaccuracies to look out for
Margaret Poe, head of consumer credit education at TransUnion, says that certain information on your credit reports will be more susceptible to error than others. For example, she says that monthly balances are usually very accurate as long as the overarching information on your credit report is correct.
"I wouldn't say that you need to go through with a ledger of your actual credit card and compare number to number," Poe says.
However, these areas are more prone to mistakes:
Identity information: Make sure your name, address, date of birth, social security number, and all other information is accurately reported. Inaccurate information may result from a mixed credit report (when the information from one credit report gets spliced into another) or identity theft.
Account status: An error on your account status can come in many forms:
- Accounts on your credit report that you did not open
- Incorrect credit limits on each revolving credit account
- Incorrect account payment status, such as a misreported delinquency on a credit account
- Incorrect date of delinquency reported on a delinquent payment
- Delinquencies older than seven years that are still on your credit report
Reinsertion of incorrect information: If you've noticed incorrect information on your credit report, there's a likelihood that it will reappear at one point or another. Make a note of corrections you've had to make in the past and keep an eye out to see if those same errors reappear on your current credit report.
3. Contact your creditor
Depending on the problem, you may be able to solve a credit report problem by directly contacting the creditor — like your bank — and resolving the issue. Have as much information as possible, including inaccurate information from your report, to hopefully resolve the issue quickly and in your favor.
4. Submit your dispute with the credit bureaus
If you cannot resolve your problem directly through the source, your next step would be to contact the credit reporting company that issued the report. You will need to prepare some documents that substantiate that the item you're challenging is an error, including your credit report with the error circled and how it can be rectified.
You can do so over the phone, online, or through the mail.
| Online | Telefon | ||
| Equifax | www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-dispute/ | Mail dispute form to: Equifax Information Services LLC | 866-349-5191 |
| Experian | www.experian.com/disputes/main.html | Experian PO Box 4500 Allen, Texas 75013 | 888-397-3742 |
| TransUnion | https://dispute.transunion.com | Mail dispute form to: TransUnion LLC | 800-916-8800 |
If you're filing a dispute by mail, you can use the FTC's sample letter to alert the credit reporting company in writing about the inaccurate information. Be sure to mail your form letter to the credit reporting agency by certified "return receipt requested" mail so that you can track the movements of your request. Keep copies for yourself of all the documentation.
Here is the sample letter:
You may also ask the credit reporting company to send correction notices to anyone else who received your report in the past six months and anyone who received a copy for employment reasons during the past two years.
5. Following up on your dispute and what to expect
Credit reporting companies should investigate your issue within 30 days unless they deem your argument frivolous. When they have finished their investigation, they will contact you in writing to let you know and send you a free copy of your report with the change listed.
6. Add a consumer statement to your credit report
Unfortunately, unresponsiveness from the credit bureaus can be quite common. A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report from 2022 revealed that across all three credit bureaus, only 2% of covered complaints received relief in 2021, down from 25% in 2019.
If your request for a change to your credit report doesn't resolve in your favor, you can still add a consumer statement to your credit report mentioning the dispute, which will be visible to anyone who recently received a copy of your report. There is usually a fee associated with this service, so be sure to ask before taking this step.
Dispute credit reports with Credit Karma
In addition to your own vigilance in keeping tabs on your credit report throughout the year, it helps to sign up for credit monitoring services to keep you updated between credit reports. These services send notifications when new information is recorded on your credit report.
Credit Karma offers free monitoring services for both TransUnion and Equifax and gives you the option to dispute any errors you see on your credit report from either bureau. Note, however, that in the CFPB's analysis of credit bureau responses to disputes, it says credit bureaus were more likely to give substantive responses to disputes filed by consumers rather than third parties.
Experian offers its own credit monitoring service, called Experian Boost. With these two free services, you can monitor all three credit bureaus for free. However, you can also seek out other paid credit monitoring services or identity protection services which will give more comprehensive security.
Frequently asked questions about credit disputes
Errors on your credit report are surprisingly common. A Consumer Reports survey found that 34% of consumers had an error on at least one of their three credit reports.
Yes, you can dispute credit report errors online. Most credit bureaus allow you to file disputes online for convenience.
If your credit dispute is rejected, you can provide additional evidence to the credit bureau or contact the creditor directly.
You should check your credit report for errors at least once every year. Also check for inaccurate information before making major financial decisions.
