This article was co-authored by Clinton M. Sandvick, JD, PhD. Clinton M. Sandvick worked as a civil litigator in California for over 7 years. He received his JD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998 and his PhD in American History from the University of Oregon in 2013.
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If you go to a bank for a mortgage, the lender will look at your credit history to check your creditworthiness. A lender may refuse to make a loan to you if any of your creditors have reported your account as being “in dispute.” You may have "disputed" a particular charge attributed in error to your credit card, for example. Then in order to secure a loan you may want to have that dispute settled and removed from your record. Here's how to do that.
Steps
Preparing to Dispute
- Understand why disputes show on your credit report. There are two situations in which disputes show up on your credit report.
- In the first situation you dispute something with a creditor such as a notation that you made late payments or were in default. By law, when you contact a creditor to dispute an item reported on your credit report, the creditor is required to update your account by showing it “in dispute." However, once the disputed item has been investigated, the dispute notation should be removed from your credit report.
- In the second situation you "close" (take out) a loan. The loan, however, is mistakenly reported as “Consumer Disputes this Account” instead of "closed."
- In either situation you have to reach out to the credit reporting agency (CRA) whose report contains the dispute and ask that it be removed.
- In the first situation you dispute something with a creditor such as a notation that you made late payments or were in default. By law, when you contact a creditor to dispute an item reported on your credit report, the creditor is required to update your account by showing it “in dispute." However, once the disputed item has been investigated, the dispute notation should be removed from your credit report.
Ask the lender what credit report shows the dispute. If you were denied a loan because your report shows a dispute, you should first check with the lender to find out which report it used. It would be from one of the three main credit-reporting agencies in the U.S.: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.
Get a free copy of each of your credit reports. You are entitled to one free report from each of the three CRAs each year.[1] Check each report for any disputes.- To request a report online, visit annualcreditreport.com. This is the only site that offers truly free reports.
- To request over the phone, call 1-877-322-8228.
- To request by mail, send a letter to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. Instead of writing a letter, you may complete the Federal Trade Commission’s “Annual Credit Report Request Form,” which is available for download at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-0093-annual-report-request-form.pdf.[2]
Review your credit reports. You should closely scrutinize each of the three credit reports. Look for any accounts that are listed as “disputed.” You will want to request that each dispute notation be removed.- If an account is listed as "disputed" on more than one credit report, you should contact each credit reporting agency whose report contains that notation.
Gather supporting documentation. Getting a dispute removed should be fairly easy. However, you might need proof that the dispute has been resolved. Look through your papers and find any communication from a credit reporting agency informing you of the results of their investigation. You might need to remind the CRA of their own findings by showing them this document.Advertisement
Contacting the Credit Reporting Agencies
Contact TransUnion by phone. To have TransUnion remove a dispute, you should call 800-916-8800 and ask that the dispute be removed. [3] There should be no need to follow up with a letter.- Nevertheless, you should take note of whom you talk to. Write down the person’s name, and note the day and time of the conversation.
Contact Experian. Experian likes to remove disputes from their reports as soon as they are resolved. [8] If you need to contact them directly, use the phone number provided with their credit report.- To contact Experian online, visit www.experian.com.
Follow up after 30 days. A CRA has 30 days to investigate a dispute and take action. [9] If you have not heard back from the agency after this period, follow up with a phone call, and ask if there is anything else that you need to do.Advertisement
Contacting a Creditor
Know when to contact. If you run into problems with the CRA, and the dispute is not removed, you may want to reach out to the creditor directly. The creditor can request that the information be removed from your credit report.
Call the creditor. You should call the creditor which reported the dispute and ask to have it taken off your report. Also ask for an address where you can send a confirming letter.
Write a letter. You should follow up your phone call with a letter which will serve as physical evidence that you requested removal. A letter to the creditor should have the following information:- The name of the credit reporting agency whose report shows the dispute.
- A request to remove the dispute notation on the report.
- A copy of any communication you have already had with the CRA about this issue.
Mail the letter. You should mail your letter first class, return receipt requested. Hold onto the receipt, and keep a copy of the letter for your records. [10]- Send any supporting documentation as well as a photocopy of the credit report with the dispute highlighted.
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Expert Q&A
Tips
- If you were denied a loan because a dispute appeared on your Experian report, you are entitled to a free report. You can visit www.experian.com/reportaccess and follow the instructions. Indicate that an "adverse action" was taken against you because of the presence of the dispute on the report. [11]Thanks
References
- ↑ http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0155-free-credit-reports
- ↑ http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0155-free-credit-reports
- ↑ http://blog.credit.com/2015/02/how-do-i-get-a-dispute-off-my-credit-report-108959/
- ↑ http://blog.credit.com/2015/02/how-do-i-get-a-dispute-off-my-credit-report-108959/
- ↑ http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0151-disputing-errors-credit-reports
- ↑ http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0151-disputing-errors-credit-reports
- ↑ http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0151-disputing-errors-credit-reports
- ↑ http://blog.credit.com/2015/02/how-do-i-get-a-dispute-off-my-credit-report-108959/
- ↑ http://blog.credit.com/2015/02/how-do-i-get-a-dispute-off-my-credit-report-108959/
About this article
Removing a dispute from your credit report can be frustrating, but it should be a relatively straightforward process. First, you’ll need to find out which credit report shows the dispute. You can do this by getting a copy of your credit reports or by asking a lender who noticed the dispute. Contact the credit reporting agency that shows the dispute and ask them to remove it. You can call Experian or TransUnion, but you’ll have to write to Equifax. The credit reporting agency should investigate your request within 30 days. If they don’t resolve the issue for any reason, call your creditor and ask them to remove the dispute. For more tips from our Legal co-author, including how to get a free copy of your credit report, read on!
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