How to Dispute Credit Report Errors (and Why It Matters)

Whether you like it or not, your credit report is a key factor in determining your financial health. It can affect your qualification for loans, insurance policies, and renting a home. And unfortunately, the information on your credit report may not always be correct.

The Consumer Response Annual Report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) indicates that the agency received about 1.65 million complaints in 2023. Most of those came from people who may have been a victim of identity theft or didn’t recognize accounts or credit inquiries on their reports.

I find it a bit terrifying to imagine how easily someone might open up fraudulent credit accounts in my name. I’m thankful I haven’t faced this nightmare, but for all of us, the best thing we can do is to vigilantly monitor our credit reports. And don’t stop there — we need to know how to dispute errors if we find them.

It’s your right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to dispute any incomplete or inaccurate information on your credit report. Here’s how you can get started.

How to dispute credit report errors

You have a few ways to dispute a credit report error: online, by phone, and by mail. I know I’d pick the online option, like 97% of those who complained to the CFPB did in 2023. But you might prefer the phone or email option.

1. File a dispute with the credit reporting bureau

Your first step, according to the CFPB, is to report errors to whichever credit reporting company (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion) has the errors. You can even use the template letter provided online.

The general information you’ll want to include in a dispute letter is as follows:

• Your contact information
• Credit report confirmation number
• Each error, including account numbers for each
• Clear explanation of why you’re disputing the error
• Request for removal of the incorrect information
• A copy of the credit report with the disputed information circled or highlighted
• Copies of any documents backing up your argument

Do not include originals of documentation, but make copies and keep any originals for your records.

How to contact the credit bureaus

You can contact the credit bureaus to dispute a claim online, over the phone, and by mail. Here’s the contact information for Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Agency	Online disputes	Mailing address	Phone number
Equifax	Equifax.com/Personal/Disputes	Equifax Information Services LLC P.O. Box 740241 Atlanta, GA 30374	Number shown on credit report or 1-866-349-5191
Experian	Experian.com/Disputes	Experian P.O. Box 4500 Allen, TX 75013	Number listed on your credit report or 1-888-397-3742
TransUnion	Dispute.TransUnion.com	TransUnion P.O. Box 2000 Chester, PA 19016-2000	1-800-916-8800 M-F 8 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sat-Sun. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. ET

For disputes with Equifax and TransUnion, there’s a downloadable form to use for mail-in disputes. You’ll download and complete that form in addition to writing your own dispute letter, then mail both together.

2. Submit a complaint to the credit company involved

The CFPB recommends first disputing errors with the credit bureau, but I recommend that you don’t wait — go ahead and submit your complaint to the company that provided the incorrect information right away, too.

This is your dispute with the bank, lender, credit card company, landlord, or anyone else who may have provided false information to the credit reporting agency. You’ll send your complaint to these “furnishers” (they furnished credit information about you that wasn’t accurate).

The information in the dispute letter is largely the same as the one to Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. If you need some guidance, the CFPB includes a dispute template letter for this purpose.

3. Maintain a paper trail

Having a paper trail is crucial when disputing credit report errors. You don’t want to leave anything to chance or your memory, so if there is any physical proof or documentation that shows something on your credit report is inaccurate, you need to hang on to that proof.

It’s also important to keep paper records of all communication you have with the credit reporting bureau and the company that originated the false claims. Keep all originals, including your original dispute letter and other paperwork, before sending anything.

If you use the online dispute form, you may be wondering how to keep paper records. You can take screenshots of any forms you fill out as well as download a copy of them, if the site provides that option. If you’re still concerned, you can always go with the mail-in dispute option and be vigilant about maintaining copies of everything.

Good first steps before you dispute a credit report error

Before you file a dispute for a credit report error, you have to find the error. Here are a few steps to take before filing a dispute.

Get a free copy of your credit reports

You might already be monitoring your credit score with a tool such as a free service from your bank or credit card. This is a great start: the overview gives you a quick view of what lenders see when you apply for credit. However, you need to also see your credit reports. A credit report doesn’t show your credit score, but it shows important information about the factors affecting your credit score.

As a former teacher, I like the analogy that your credit score is the letter grade you receive in school, while your credit report is a list of all of the assignments and tests that make up your grade. (And if your teacher accidentally put in a D where you should have gotten an A, you’d want to remedy that error, wouldn’t you?)

The best way to get a free copy of your credit report is by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. This is the only source authorized by the federal government to offer free copies of your credit report from the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Although it’s called Annual Credit Report, you are allowed to see a copy of your free credit report each week. You may not need to check that frequently, but it’s great to know you have the option.

Review your reports from all three credit bureaus

Next, learn how to read your credit report when you receive this information from the credit bureaus.

It’s important to review your credit reports regularly because the information across all three reports may vary. For example, you might see more hard credit pulls on one report compared to another report.

This doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an error on your reports, though. Lenders aren’t required to report credit activity to all three credit bureaus, so your main goal is checking for accuracy, not whether the reports match perfectly.

When viewing credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, check the following for accuracy:

• Personal information: Your name, address, phone number, Social Security number, birthdate, etc.
• Credit accounts: Any loans, credit cards, or other credit accounts in your name
• Account balances: How much you’re said to owe each creditor
• Payment history: Look especially for any record of late or missed payments
• Credit inquiries: Check for any inquiries such as those used for new credit card applications or other loan applications
• Public records: Any bankruptcies, liens, foreclosures, and other public records connected to you

Note any potentially inaccurate information

As you’re checking each credit report, keep an eye out for potential errors and keep track of them. Write down any information that doesn’t match up with your actual credit activity.

According to the CFPB, the most common credit report complaints relate to fraudulent activity. This includes identity theft, fraudulent checking and savings withdrawals, credit card accounts the person never opened, and debt collections agencies trying to collect on fraudulently obtained loans.

If you find any errors on your credit report, it’s time to take action to correct them. I’d hate the feeling of knowing someone else was racking up bills in my name, and I’d want to fix it as soon as possible.

Next steps if a disputed item isn’t removed from your report

I hope your credit report errors will be speedily fixed. But the bad news is that submitting your dispute doesn’t guarantee that it’ll be removed from the report. In some instances, your dispute might be denied, and the disputed information will remain.

If this is the case, consider these next steps:

• Review why your dispute was denied: Your dispute may have been denied because the creditor didn’t have enough information to investigate it properly. You’re able to submit further disputes and include more information. However, if you submit the same dispute without any additional information, it could be immediately denied.
• Submit a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: If you want additional information regarding why your credit report dispute was denied, you could submit a complaint with the CFPB. The CFPB recommends submitting a complaint if you want to help yourself and possibly others in a similar situation. Submitting a complaint could help you understand applicable issues, fix errors, and get direct responses from companies.
• Hire a professional: Credit counseling agencies could potentially help with resolving errors on your credit report. They won’t necessarily go through any steps you haven’t already taken, but their knowledge of the process might give them an advantage.
• Contact the creditor yourself: It could make sense to contact the lender, debt collector, or credit card issuer directly instead of using a credit bureau as a middleman. This might help you talk things through with one of their representatives and figure out why the dispute was denied. Then you might have the opportunity to include more information.
• Continue to monitor your credit history: If the item you filed a dispute about was accurate information, there’s nothing left to do other than to continue monitoring your credit file. Resources such as Credit Karma and services from different financial institutions can help you keep tabs on your important credit information. Read our Credit Karma review or visit Credit Karma.

FAQs

Bottom line

It’s important to get into the habit of reviewing your credit reports and seeing if they have any inaccuracies. If they do, you have the option and right to dispute the errors. Successfully going through the dispute process could take some time, but it’s likely worth it if it helps protect your credit.

I know it can be an overwhelming process, particularly if your credit report contains multiple errors. But it’s too important to give up. Take things one step at a time and work your way toward a solution, whether that means carefully scanning your report again or sending additional information with your next dispute.