The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives a consumer reporting agency 30 days to reinvestigate a disputed item and report back. Understanding what starts that clock, what pauses it, and what makes it start over is most of what you need.
You tell the agency an item is inaccurate. The agency forwards the dispute to the furnisher — the bank, collector or lender that supplied the line. The furnisher investigates and answers. The agency then deletes, corrects, or verifies the item and sends you the result along with a free copy of the file if anything changed.
What we will not tell you to do
We do not publish dispute letter templates and we do not suggest disputing accurate items in the hope that a furnisher fails to respond. That practice is the core of the credit repair industry, it is not what the statute is for, and a deleted item that is later reinserted comes back with notice.
You can dispute directly with the furnisher, and separately with the agency. The obligations are not identical, and a furnisher that has been notified directly is required to investigate. Doing both leaves you with two records of the same claim, which is worth having if the item comes back.
Dated copies of the report you disputed, of what you sent, and of the result letter. This is dull advice and it is the only advice on this page that reliably matters twelve months later.
If the item is a collection, read the seven-year clock first — some items you would dispute are simply about to fall off.
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