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How To Dispute An Error On Your Credit Report

Contact The Credit Bureau With Errors

How do I dispute an error on my credit report? consumerfinance.gov

Since credit bureaus generally do not share information with one another, youll need to contact any bureau listing an error directly.

If you see an error on any personal credit report, use the appropriate link below to dispute incorrect information:

Keep copies of any documentation you provide to help support your claim. You can use this template to dispute incorrect information on a credit report:

Dear

I noticed incorrect information on my credit report that was furnished by .

Please investigate the incorrect information and remove it from my report. I have included a copy of my full credit report with the error highlighted for your review. Additionally, I have also included following documentation which supports my claim:

Thank you,

The credit bureau should then research your claim. If your claim is correct, they should remove the error from your credit report.

What To Do If You Disagree With The Outcome Of Your Dispute

If you don’t agree with the results of your dispute, here are some additional steps you can take:

  • Contact the information source. Your best next step is to contact the entity that originally provided the disputed information to Experian and offer proof their information is incorrect. The source may be the lender or financial institution that issued you a loan or credit, but it could also be a collection agency or government office. Contact information for each source appears on your credit report, and you can use it to reach out to them.
  • Add a statement of dispute to your credit report. A statement of dispute lets you explain why you believe the information in your credit report is incomplete or inaccurate. Your statement will appear on your Experian credit report whenever it’s accessed or requested by a potential lender or creditor, so they may ask you for more details or documentation as part of their review or application process. To add a statement of dispute, go to the Dispute Center, choose the item in dispute, and select Add a Statement from the menu of dispute reasons.
  • Dispute again with relevant information. If you have additional relevant information to substantiate your claim, you can submit a new dispute. If you’re filing the dispute online, follow the steps listed above for using the Dispute Center, and use the upload link to provide your supporting documentation.

Whathappens If Your Initial Dispute Is Rejected

Ifyou happen to submit a dispute on your credit report that issubsequently denied, dont panic: you still have options. Initialinvestigations are generally not overly detailed, and typicallycomprise solely of creditors being asked to verify the informationyou claim. If your dispute does eventually get rejected, you canescalate your claim further by sending supporting information.

Somerelevant examples of documentation you can use to make your caseinclude:

  • Correspondencewith the creditor

  • Accuratebills or online statements

  • Copiesof canceled checks

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How Does The Dispute Process Work

File a dispute for free

If you see information on your Equifax credit report that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete, you have two options to submit a dispute form and required documents: electronically or by postal mail.

Results

After your dispute is processed, we will notify you with the results and outcome of the investigation. If you submitted your documents electronically, you will receive the results by email. If you printed and mailed in your dispute information, your results will be mailed to you.

Please note that you will need to contact Trans Union of Canada, Inc. directly to correct inaccuracies found on your TransUnion Canada credit file.

Watch Out For Credit Repair Scams

How to Dispute an Error on Your Credit Report: https://www.creditkarma ...

Filing a dispute isn’t a complicated process. Disputes are free and the credit reporting agencies must follow strict federal regulations for your protection. However, there are credit repair companies that prey on people by promising to remove derogatory information and charge high fees to do so. These companies do not have any more power to make changes to your credit report than you could, for free.

That said, if you prefer to hire a credit repair company to handle disputes on your behalf, we recommend thoroughly vetting the company before paying them a dime.

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Common Errors That Can Impact Your Credit Score

Reviewing your credit report can help you monitor for identity theft and uncover items that could be lowering your score. However, not all errors on your report affect your credit score. Some items, such as an outdated phone number, aren’t worth the trouble of disputing.

Items that could lower your credit score and are worth disputing include:

  • Incorrect account statuses, such as a bill reported as delinquent or an account in collections when you’ve always paid on time
  • Derogatory marks that are older than seven years
  • Addresses you don’t recognize
  • An ex-spouse who is listed on a current account
  • Incorrect balances or credit limits

If you identify any of these errors, disputing them could be the next step in getting them removed from your report so you can start seeing an increase in your credit score.

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Inform Whoever Provided The Information Of The Mistake

Youll also want to provide the company reporting the incorrect information with copies of any documentation that prove an error has occurred. Make sure to include all details required to prove your claim along with copies of documentation that backs you up. The FTC offers another sample dispute letter you can use for this instance.

What Are The Most Common Credit Report Errors

Disputing credit report errors

Some of the most common credit report errors include the following:

  • Errors around your identity
  • Data management mistakes
  • Incorrect balances

Not all errors are created equal. The errors on your credit report could appear in different sections and may have varying impacts on your credit score. For example, you may want to clear up an incorrect former address, alias or former employer, but those types of errors wont impact your credit score at all.

Missing or seemingly incorrect information isnt always an error. Creditors arent required to report your payments to all three credit bureaus and may only report payments to one or two of them. Or they might not report your payments at all. As a result, differences in your reports or lack of information may not be an error.

If you see closed and repaid accounts on your reports, those arent necessarily errors either. Accounts that never had a late payment can stay on your credit report for up to 10 years. If there was a late payment or if the account was sent to collections, the credit bureaus arent required to remove the account until seven years after the first late payment on the account. This can be the case even if the account was closed, if you paid off the balance with the original creditor or if you paid off the debt with a collection agency.

Here are some credit report errors you can dispute, and others you cannot:

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Common Credit Reporting Errors

When reviewing your reports, some common personal information and account reporting errors include:

  • Personal Information reporting errors. Check to see if your name, address, birthdate and Social Security number are correct. If your report contains inaccurate personal information, it could be a sign that your identity has been stolen.
  • Accounts that dont belong to you. Its possible that someone with a similar name could have an account accidentally listed on one of your reports. This could also mean that someone has stolen your identity and opened an account in your name.
  • Incorrect account status. When reviewing your reports, make sure your account balance, account numbers and credit limits are accurate. Also, double-check that closed accounts arent reported as open.
  • Expired debt. Negative remarks, such as collection accounts and late payments, typically remain on your credit reports for up to seven years. In most cases, the negative information automatically falls off of your credit report. If it doesnt, this could mean the time clock on the debt was reset, which may be an error.
  • Reinsertion of incorrect information. Incorrect information that was disputed and removed from your credit report in the past can sometimes reappear. This means you will have to redispute the incorrect information with the credit bureaus or the creditor that is providing the information to have it removed again.

How An Error On Your Credit Report Can Affect You

Is it really necessary to keep close tabs on your credit report? Can one error really have an impact on you? Yes. Your credit report contains all kinds of information about you, such as how you pay your bills, and if youve ever filed for bankruptcy. You could be impacted negatively by an error on your credit report in many ways.

To start, its important to understand that credit reporting companies sell the information in your credit reports to groups that include employers, insurers, utility companies, and many other groups that want to use that information to verify your identity and evaluate your creditworthiness.

For instance, if a utility company reviews your credit history and finds a less-than-favorable credit report, they may offer less favorable terms to you as a customer. While this is called risk-based pricing and companies must notify you if theyre doing this, it can still have an impact on you. Your credit report also may affect whether you can get a loan and the terms of that loan, including your interest rate.

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Dispute Mistakes With The Credit Bureaus

You should dispute with each credit bureau that has the mistake. Explain in writing what you think is wrong, include the credit bureaus dispute form , copies of documents that support your dispute, and keep records of everything you send. If you send your dispute by mail, you can use the address found on your credit report or a credit bureaus address for disputes.

Equifax

Gather Materials To Dispute Errors

How to Dispute Credit Report Errors: 13 Steps (with Pictures)

Your goal is to make it as easy and quick as possible for investigators to confirm that your complaint is valid. Depending on the error, the things you gather to support your case could include:

  • Copies of credit card statements or loan documents

  • Copies of bank statements

  • Copies of birth or death certificates, or a divorce decree

  • If you’ve reported identity theft, include a copy of your FTC complaint or police report.

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Your Legal Rights To Dispute Credit Reports

Because inaccurate credit reports can potentially harm you financially, its worth knowing all your dispute-related rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act , the federal statute that regulates credit reporting and safeguards consumers. The law stipulates your right to:

  • One free annual credit report that contains all information on file at the time of your request from each of the three credit bureaus.
  • Know who received your credit report in the past year .
  • Dispute a report with the credit bureau and with the company that furnished the information to the bureau. Both the credit bureau and the information supplier are legally obligated to investigate your dispute.
  • Another free credit report should an application for a loan, credit card, etc., be denied because of information in your credit report. Should you choose to dispute the credit report, you must do so within 60 days of that denial.
  • Add your own explanatory note to your credit report if your dispute is not resolved to your satisfaction.8

How To Dispute An Error On Your Credit Report And Win

The dispute process can be done via mail, phone, or online. We highly recommend that you do it through certified mail. This allows you to keep records of all correspondence with the credit reporting companies. Its also much more effective doing it through the mail. You give up some of your rights when you dispute online at the credit bureaus website.

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Wait Up To 45 Days For The Credit Bureau Or Furnisher To Investigate And Respond

The credit bureau generally has 30 days after receiving your dispute to investigate and verify information with the furnisher. The credit bureau must also report the results back to you within five days of completing its investigation.

If you dispute the error with the information furnisher, that company must also report the results of its investigation to you. It also typically has 30 days to investigate. But if the furnisher stands by the accuracy of the information it reported, it wont update or remove the error.

One more thing to note is that either the credit bureau or the furnisher may decide that your dispute is frivolous. This generally happens when youve submitted incorrect or incomplete information on the dispute, but can also occur if youve tried to contest the same item multiple times without any new information or if youve attempted to claim that everything on your credit report is incorrect without proof.

If the bureau decides that your dispute is frivolous, it doesnt need to investigate it further as long as it communicates that to you within five days, along with the reasoning for deeming the dispute frivolous. If your original dispute was labeled frivolous, you can try to resubmit a dispute with updated materials.

Why Is There An Error On My Credit Report

Do THIS Prior To Disputing Your Credit Report Or You Are WASTING Your TIME

Checking your credit reports and finding an error can be a frightening experience, though it isnt an uncommon one. The most recent study by the Federal Trade Commission found some 26 percent of participants spotted errors on at least one of their credit reports. You may be wondering how or why an error found its way onto your credit report. There are several reasons why an error may end up on your credit profile, varying from the more benigna creditor that didnt send updated info to the three credit bureaus, for exampleto the severe, like fraudulent activity captured on your credit reports.

Some errors that could have a significant impact on your credit score include:

  • Incorrect balances on accounts
  • Derogatory marks that are older than seven years
  • Incorrect credit limits
  • Bills reported as late or delinquent when your account should be in good standing.

Errors on your credit reports that lead to lower credit scores can impact your approval odds for home loans, auto loans and credit cards. Even if you are approved, youll be burdened with higher interest rates. To be sure your credit reports are accurate, check them consistently and quickly dispute any errors.

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Where To Take Your Claim

Spot something that doesnt look quite right? Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit reporting agencies such as Experian, Equifax and TransUnion are required to investigate your credit report dispute.

You also can take your complaints to those responsible for supplying information to the credit bureaus: banks, retailers, mortgage companies in short, anyone who is in the business of granting credit plus debt collectors.

The scuttlebutt: Experts do not think highly of lenders or debt collectors investigatory expertise or enthusiasm. This perception might be connected to the limited scope of lenders obligations. They need only look at what the consumer owes, whether the account holder keeps payments current, and if they have the consumers name right. This limited scope makes their reviews seem to be quick and shallow, with the result that errors sometimes are deemed accurate.

To be certain, contact both. Thats the recommendation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Dispute Your Credit Reports Errors

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, both the credit reporting bureau and the company that reports the information about you to the credit bureau are required to accept disputes from consumers and correct any inaccurate or incomplete information about you in that report.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recommends taking these actions:

  • Tell the credit bureau, in writing, what information you think is inaccurate. The Federal Trade Commission provides a sample dispute letter that makes this step easier. The letter outlines what information to include, from presenting the facts to requesting that the error be removed or corrected.
  • Include copies, not originals, of materials that support your position.
  • Consider enclosing a copy of your credit report with the errors circled or highlighted.
  • Send your letter by certified mail with return receipt requested to ensure the letter is delivered. Keep your post office receipt.
  • Keep copies of everything you send.

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