Your credit report is a detailed record of your open credit accounts and payment history. Errors on it can hurt your credit score, affect loan approvals, and cost you money. However, you can get free copies of your credit reports from the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). And federal law gives you the right to dispute any inaccurate or incomplete information you find.
Common credit report errors include identity theft accounts, outdated negative information, and data mixed in from another person's file. Knowing how to spot these mistakes and file an effective dispute is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your credit.
What Is a Credit Report?
Your credit report is a record of all open credit accounts you have and your payment history with each of them. The three national credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, keep these records, and federal law limits what they can do with the information they gather about you.
Federal law gives you the right to receive a free copy of your credit report from each agency once a year. You can also get a free copy if you're a victim of identity theft or if someone turns you down for a loan or some other opportunity based on the report. In addition, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion voluntarily offer free weekly online credit reports. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com to get your free reports.
When you get your free credit reports, review them and dispute any inaccurate information.
Common Credit Report Errors to Watch For
The most common types of errors you might find in your credit reports include the following:
- information for a different person
- open accounts that are the result of identity theft
- inaccurate information, like misspellings, inaccurate names, and incorrect telephone numbers
- errors showing inconsistent information for the same account, like showing one account as both "current" and "in default" status and
- outdated information. (Negative information, including foreclosure, can remain on your credit report for up to seven years. If you file for bankruptcy, it can stay on your report for ten years.)
How to File a Credit Report Dispute
If you find that one of your credit reports contains inaccurate or incomplete information, you can file a dispute with the relevant credit reporting agency. You may submit your dispute online or via phone or send a letter. Be sure to include:
- your name and address
- statements identifying the item or items you believe are inaccurate or incomplete
- an explanation of why you think the information is incorrect and
- copies (not originals) of billing statements, canceled checks, or other documents supporting your dispute.
If you send a letter, send it by certified mail, with a return receipt requested, to the address the credit reporting agency has provided for disputing information. Be sure to keep a copy for your records.
To find out how to initiate a dispute online (or to get the phone number or address for filing a dispute), go to the Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion websites.
How Credit Bureaus Investigate Disputes
Unless the credit reporting agency deletes the inaccurate information after receiving your dispute, the agency is required to conduct a reinvestigation of the disputed items. The agency must complete its reinvestigation within 30 days after receiving your notice of dispute, or within 45 days if you send the agency additional relevant information during the 30-day period. (If if you disputed the information after receiving your free annual credit report, the agency has 45 days.)
Credit reporting agencies must act in good faith when performing a reinvestigation and must check with the original sources and other reliable sources of the disputed information. Once complete, the agency must then give you the results of its reinvestigation within five business days and include a revised credit report if any changes were made.
Even if the credit reporting agency deletes or corrects the error to your satisfaction, you should continue to review your credit reports regularly. You don't want this information to reappear at a later date.
When Credit Bureaus Can Reject Your Dispute
A credit reporting agency doesn’t have to investigate a dispute that it thinks is frivolous or irrelevant. For example, the agency doesn't have to investigate the matter if:
- you don’t give the agency sufficient information to investigate the dispute
- your dispute looks like a blanket dispute of virtually everything in your credit file that a credit repair company prepared or you prepared using a credit repair service’s forms, or
- you ask for reinvestigation of the same item more than once, but don’t provide any new information.
How to Add a Consumer Statement to Your Credit Report
If the credit reporting agency’s reinvestigation doesn’t resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you can file a brief statement about the matter. The agency then has to include your statement, or a summary of it, in any report that includes the disputed information.
If the reporting agency helps you to write the explanation, it may limit your statement to 100 words. Otherwise, there’s no set word limit. But it’s wise to keep the statement very brief. Here’s why. The credit reporting agency only has to provide a summary of your statement, not your actual statement, when it provides your file to a requesting party. So, if your statement is short, the credit reporting agency is more likely to forward your unedited comments.
What to Do If Your Credit Report Error Isn't Corrected
If the credit bureau doesn't correct your report, you may file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), along with a copy of the dispute information you sent to the agency. Keep in mind that you must first dispute the inaccurate or incomplete information directly with the credit reporting agency before complaining to the CFPB, and that dispute must have been submitted more than 45 days before you file your CFPB complaint.
It's worth noting that the CFPB's capacity to oversee credit reporting bureaus has been significantly reduced in recent years due to major staff cuts and budgetary restrictions under the Trump administration. Even so, filing a complaint is still a smart move. It creates a paper trail you can point to if you need to escalate to legal action, and agencies (and creditors) sometimes respond more quickly once a federal complaint is on record. Consider following up by sending a certified letter to both the creditor and the credit reporting bureau that references your CFPB complaint number or identifier.
You might also consider filing a dispute with the creditor or initiating a lawsuit against the agency.
When to Consult a Consumer Protection Attorney
If you continue to find errors on your credit reports, you may file additional disputes or you can consult a consumer protection attorney to get help resolving the issue.