How to Dispute Inaccurate Credit Report Information

Who has the right to dispute a credit report

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.), every consumer has the right to dispute information they believe is inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable directly with the credit bureau reporting it, and with the company that furnished the information — at no cost, without hiring anyone. That right exists whether or not you ever work with a company like ours.

What makes something a legitimate dispute

A legitimate dispute targets something specific and factually wrong: a balance that doesn't match your records, an account that isn't yours, dates that don't line up, a status that misrepresents what actually happened, or an item the furnisher can't actually verify when the bureau asks. It is not a blanket request to remove every negative item regardless of whether it's accurate — that approach is a hallmark of the kind of credit-repair operator the Credit Repair Organizations Act was written to curb, and bureaus increasingly flag mass, identical dispute letters as suspicious rather than acting on them.

How the bureau investigation works

Once a dispute is filed, the bureau generally has 30 days to investigate, which usually means forwarding it to the furnisher (the bank, collector, or lender that reported the item) and asking them to verify it. If the furnisher can't verify the information, the bureau must remove or correct it. If it's verified as accurate, it stays. That's also why an accurate item — a late payment that genuinely happened — typically survives a dispute: there is usually a record to verify it against.

How we help

We start with a three-bureau report review to identify what actually looks disputable, then help you assemble specific, individualized documentation for that item rather than a generic form letter. Every dispute is reviewed by a staff member before it's sent. If something looks accurate, we tell you that directly rather than dispute it anyway.

Related situations

Some categories of disputes come up often enough that we've written separate guides for them: collection accounts that may not actually belong to you or may be past the reporting window, late payments reported with the wrong date or severity, and hard inquiries you never authorized. If accounts on your report look entirely unfamiliar, see our identity theft guide— that's a different first step than an ordinary dispute.

Sources

See the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's credit reports and scores resources for the government's own explanation of this process.