Credit Report Dispute Letter - What to do When There’s an Error

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is your protection against inaccuracies and incomplete reporting of information in your credit report. Let’s face it, mistakes happen. And unless and until corrected, your ability to obtain credit may be in jeopardy.

The three major credit reporting agencies are required to reinvestigate every dispute received. Provided the agency does not believe such dispute is “frivolous or irrelevant” it is also required to make note in your credit report of the status of the reinvestigation within a “reasonable period of time.” The agency must correct any erroneous information and complete any incomplete information before the reinvestigation is considered complete.

A common credit report error is a credit agency still reporting an account as delinquent even though you have been making timely payments on that account. If you dispute and can prove this change in account status, the agency must update the account status accordingly.

Another common error is listing an account on your credit report that belongs to someone else. If you dispute and provide proof that this is not your account, the agency must delete the account in question from your credit report.

Once disputed issues have been corrected, the credit agency must also, upon your request, inform anyone that inquired into your credit report during the previous six months of any updates to your credit report.

Sometimes the information on your credit report is correct, but worthy of further explanation. Believe it or not, you can put into writing the reason for the problem that appears on your credit report. For example, if you were late paying an account, the credit report dispute letter can explain that you lost your job, or were called to the military or whatever the reason may be. This information will then be attached to your credit profile and disclosed to anyone making a future inquiry.