Bad financial times can quickly pile up negative items on your credit report, lowering your credit score and making it difficult to get further credit, or credit at good rates. Even if you aren’t experiencing hard times, credit reporting and recording errors can place incorrect or false negative items on your report, harming your credit score without your knowledge.
In our increasingly credit based society, it pays to be vigilant over our credit and keep it as pristine as possible. You should occasionally monitor your credit report for errors and, if you find them, you should have them changed or removed as soon as possible. If you are asking, “How do I dispute items on my credit report?”… read on.
Review Credit Reports
The first step is to request copies of your credit report. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are allowed one free copy of your report from each of the three main credit bureaus every 12 months. You should request a report from all bureaus because they could have slightly different information or mistakes.
Once received, review your credit reports carefully and make note of any spelling errors, incorrect addresses, wrong charges, or charges which are not yours. You should also note all contact information of the companies which show errors.
Dispute Credit Report Errors
The next step is to write a Letter of Dispute, contesting any incorrect information. Provide documentation that substantiates any changes required or wrong charges. Misspellings and incorrect addresses are corrected quite easily. However, incorrect or wrongful charges will be investigated.
Your dispute letter should be professional, provide the reasons why you believe the charges or information is incorrect, include all validating information and be sent via certified mail. Also, request a return receipt and keep a file of all correspondence.
If you find a large number of mistakes, it is best to send two or more letters over a period of time, disputing only a few errors at a time. If too many items are contested at once, or you send too many requests too frequently, your account could be labeled as “frivolous” and further requests ignored.
Credit Bureau Actions
According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, an individual may dispute any information on their credit report and the credit bureaus must investigate those claims, unless they are found to be “frivolous”.
Once a dispute is received, the credit bureau will notify the addressed company. The company then has 30 days in which to provide the credit bureau with validating information. If they cannot or do not validate the contested negative charge within that timeframe then the credit bureau is required to remove the disputed charge.
You should then receive a letter from the credit bureau after approximately 30-45 days stating the outcome of the investigation. If you do not receive a letter, you should follow up with a request for that information as well as another copy of your credit report to review.