Disputing Credit Report Errors

This is not legal advice. This legal information is provided by Tzedek DC. You should speak with an attorney to receive specific legal advice about your matter.

To dispute an error on your credit report, you should contact both the credit reporting agency and the company (see cautionary note below) that reported the inaccurate information.

Step 1: Contact the 3 Credit Reporting Agencies and the Furnisher of the Inaccurate Information

You should contact all three nationwide credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. Each one has its own dispute process and mailing address. Based on previous client experience, Tzedek DC suggests mailing all disputes, as opposed to using any online complaint processes. Submitting a dispute to a credit reporting company will not involve any cost other than postage. You may want to mail it with a return receipt request to confirm that the company received your letter. You should send copies of evidence with your dispute letters. Always keep original documentation.

For instructions and an example of your dispute letters to the credit reporting agencies, visit this link.

For instructions and an example of your dispute letter to the furnisher of the inaccurate information, visit this link.

***Caution: You should always submit your dispute to the Credit Reporting Agencies. Some (but not most) people may want to avoid also submitting it to the furnisher. Specifically, if you are not receiving letters or phone calls with the company, and there is not currently a lawsuit against you brought by the company, it is possible that the company does not have your current contact information, full name, or social security number. It is possible that if you dispute the information you may provide the company with this information and the company may start collection activities against you. You should speak with an attorney if you have questions regarding your individual circumstance.

Step 2: Investigation of Your Dispute

If you dispute by mail, the credit reporting companies must:

  1. Investigate disputes.

  2. Forward all documents to the furnishing company (the creditor that provided the reported information).

  3. Report the results back to you.

The only exception is if the credit reporting company or furnishing company reasonably determines that your claim is frivolous, meaning that the claim is not serious or lacks any arguable basis or merit. If the company chooses not to investigate because the claim is frivolous, the company must send you a notice within five days of making the determination stating that it has made such a determination. That notice must contain the reason for the determination and any information required to investigate the disputed information. Although a company can determine that a claim is frivolous for any reason, a company may determine that a claim is frivolous due to insufficient information.

To prevent the determination that a claim is frivolous due to insufficient information, be sure to:

  1. Include as much evidence as possible.

  2. Be as clear as possible about your dispute and why you are disputing the information.

The credit reporting agency has 30 days to investigate (with some exceptions). The credit reporting agency must notify you of the investigation’s outcome within 5 days of completing the investigation. If the credit reporting agency made any changes to your credit report as a result of the dispute, the credit reporting agency will send you a free updated copy of your credit report. If you ask, the credit reporting company must send notices of any corrections to anyone who received your report in the past six months. You can have a corrected copy of your report sent to anyone who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes.

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

The furnishing company also conducts an investigation, and will either 1) correct the error or 2) determine that the information is accurate and not remove the inaccurate information. If the company corrects the information, it must notify all credit reporting companies to which it sent the inaccurate information.

Identity Theft

If you believe that identity theft might be involved, you might also consider further instruction from the Federal Trade Commission at www.identitytheft.gov.

Tzedek DC (“Tzedek” is a word from the Book of Deuteronomy meaning justice) is a nonprofit public interest center headquartered at the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law. Our mission is to safeguard the rights of low and moderate income D.C. residents facing debt-related problems including lawsuits brought by debt collectors. We offer free legal services to eligible clients in debt related matters.

Contact Tzedek DC via our website at this link or call us at (202) 274-7386 if you are experiencing threats from creditors, are being sued for a debt in DC, or have found issues with your credit report, as we may be able to help.