Credit Reports: Improving Your Credit Report

Under the FCRA, both the consumer credit reporting company and the information provider (the person, company, or organization that provides information about you to a consumer credit reporting company) are responsible for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in your credit report. To take advantage of all your rights under the FCRA, contact the consumer credit reporting company and the information provider if you see inaccurate or incomplete information in your credit report.

1. Tell the consumer credit reporting company, in writing, what information you think is inaccurate in your credit report. Include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. In addition to providing your complete name and address, your letter should clearly identify each item in your credit report that you dispute, state the facts and explain why you dispute the information, and request that the information be deleted or corrected. You may want to enclose a copy of your credit report with the items in question circled. Your letter may look something like the one on page 5. Send your letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, so you can document what the consumer credit reporting company received. Keep copies of your dispute letter and enclosures.

Consumer credit reporting companies must investigate the items in question — usually within 30 days — unless they consider your dispute frivolous. They also must forward all the relevant data you provide about the inaccuracy to the organization that provided the information. After the information provider receives notice of a dispute from the consumer credit reporting company, it must investigate, review the relevant information, and report the results back to the consumer credit reporting company. If the information provider finds the disputed information is inaccurate, it must notify all three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies so they can correct the information in your file.

When the investigation is complete, the consumer credit reporting company must give you the written results and a free copy of your credit report if the dispute results in a change. (This free credit report does not count as your annual free credit report under the FACT Act.) If an item is changed or deleted, the consumer credit reporting company cannot put the disputed information back in your file unless the information provider verifies that the information is, indeed, accurate and complete. The consumer reporting company also must send you written notice that includes the name, address, and phone number of the information provider.

If you request, the consumer credit reporting company must send notices of any correction to anyone who received your credit report in the past six months. A corrected copy of your credit report can be sent to anyone who received a copy of your credit report during the past two years for employment purposes.

If an investigation doesn't resolve your dispute with the consumer credit reporting company, you can ask that a statement of the credit report dispute be included in your credit report file and in future credit reports. You also can ask the consumer credit reporting company to provide your statement to anyone who received a copy of your credit report in the recent past. Expect to pay a fee for this service.

2. Tell the creditor or other information provider, in writing, that you dispute an item. Be sure to include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. Many providers specify an address for disputes. If the provider reports the item to a consumer credit reporting company, it must include a notice of your credit report dispute. And if you are correct - that is, if the information is found to be inaccurate - the information provider may not report it again.