How To Dispute/Challenge Credit Report Errors

Today I had an email from a family member asking for some advice on how to correct an error on a credit report.  There are several reasons why a credit report may show inaccurate or misrepresented information and it's important to know how to take the steps to contact the credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and Trans Union).  All three are separate entities and each has a separate matrix to rate our credit/spending patterns.  Each have a range for our FICO scores from 400-850 (approximately).

Most creditors, banks and collection agencies will report to each agency on a monthly basis.  If you are aware of inaccurate information on your credit report it's a good idea to make sure which agency is reporting the information.  Often times only one or two of the agencies will report inaccurate information.  In the case of my family member there was some very poor communication on the part of the creditor and I thought it'd be a good idea to post some helpful steps to disputing this information.

1. Access your free credit report – Often times you may become aware of an error or inaccurate information on only one agency.  If you have a credit report given to you by a bank or credit company they will likely only provide a report from a single agency (most likely Equifax) in order to reduce the cost of pulling three credit reports.  If you're applying for a mortgage you'll be provided with a tri-merge credit report which combines information from all three agencies.  Go to www.annualcreditreport.com and download your free credit report from each credit reporting agency.  You will need create a log-in and provide some information to receive the credit reports.  The free credit report will show you information reporting from each agency, however, you will not be provided a score.  For the purposes of challenging an error, it's not necessary to have a score, but if you insist on having a score you can choose to pay for the score through this website.    It is very important to go to this website as there are hundreds of websites that want you to pay for the report which should be free (i.e. freecreditreport.com).
2. Identify the agency or agencies reporting the error – Print the report from each agency.  Identify the error or inaccurate infomration on each report.
3. Document the error – It's important to document your case for the inaccurate information or error.  You will want to provide detailed information about why the information is inaccurate or an error.
4. Dispute the information with the appropriate agency – Each credit reporting agency has a website with detailed information on how to dispute these errors.  Visit the website and proceed accordingly.  Click to visit each agency's official dispute page: Equifax / Experian / Trans Union. It is very important for you to remember your log-in information so you can follow up.
5. Check the result(s) of the dispute – Most disputes take 30-45 days for a response from the agency.  Check back with the agency's website and view the result.
6. Contact me if you have any questions – seriously, I'm here to help – Much if this information can be overwhelming at times.  Give me a call or shoot me an email and I'll answer any questions you may have.

Good luck!