Inaccuracies
More often than not, you are bound to find an inaccuracy in your credit report. More than one-third of consumers in this country have some sort of inaccuracy on their credit reports. Some of these inaccuracies could be detrimental to your credit reputation and your ability to obtain a line of credit at the rate that you would otherwise be granted. There are a number of ways to go about correcting the inaccuracy on your credit report, but the single most effective method is to dispute the inaccurate information.
What type of inaccuracies may you encounter?
Some inaccuracies could be insignificant, such as a misspelling of your address, these could easily get fixed, but it’s not as urgent as major inaccuracies. Some of the major inaccuracies that could impact your ability to obtain credit could be inaccurate charge-off statuses, fraudulently opened accounts, inaccurate lates and other delinquencies reporting, a large balance on an account that you do not owe. These are some inaccuracies that you want to cure immediately because a potential creditor will take these into account before offering to extend you credit.
How to Dispute
To cure the inaccuracy, a dispute is a route to take to allow the bureau an opportunity to fix the problem. There are many ways this can be done. Some credit reporting companies like Credit Karma allow disputes to be made directly from that website. Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union also each have their own portals on their respective websites that allow consumers to submit disputes. The method of disputing that we recommend is to send the credit bureaus a letter via certified mail. The reason for this is that it allows you to be certain that the letter was received by an actual person. Someone is always responsible to open up a physical letter that is sent to the credit bureau. Sending the letter via certified mail will ensure that it is received and notify you when it is delivered.
What should your dispute letter include?
Your dispute letter should state your name, address, social security number, date of birth, phone number, and email address. This information is important to include so that the bureau can identify a file as yours.
The body of your letter should state what the inaccuracy is that you are referencing. It is okay to include a narrative about the account and state why it is inaccurate. You can say something like:
“This account was discharged in bankruptcy” or “this account was fraudulently opened and it does not belong to me” or “the late payments appearing on this account are not accurate, all payments have only ever been made on time”. Just make sure you are clear in describing the inaccuracy, it is okay to be detailed, just as long as you are clear. If there is more than one tradeline that is inaccurately reporting on your credit report, you should state each of them in the collection letter. You can also sign the letter.
How and where to send the dispute letter
The dispute letter should be sent via certified mail to the below addresses. Make sure to keep both a copy of the tracking information and also a copy of the letter so that you have proof of what you send to the bureaus. You can send the dispute letters to each of the bureaus that are inaccurately reported. Here are the addresses of each bureau below:
Equifax Information Services, LLC
PO Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
TransUnion, LLC
Consumer Dispute Center
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016-2000
Experian
P.O. Box 4500
Allen, TX 75013
Effects of a dispute
A dispute will trigger an investigation. This will put Equifax, Experian, or Trans Union on notice that there is something wrong with the tradeline. They will reach out to the furnisher of the tradeline and ask about the inaccuracy. The furnisher could be a creditor that you incurred the debt with, or it could be a debt collector. The credit reporting agency has 30 days from the time they receive the dispute to respond to you.
Dispute Response
Within 30 days of receiving your letter, the bureaus should respond to you. They will either update the reporting to accurately report and your problem is now solved. In other situations, the bureaus will “verify as accurate”, if this is the case and you are sure that the account is inaccurate, you should consult with us for a free case review because this may be a claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the “FCRA”). Do not throw away your dispute response letter!
In some cases, the bureaus will not respond to you. If you do not receive a response within 30 days, you can pull your credit reports again from annualcreditreport.com to see if the inaccuracies are still reporting. If the inaccurate tradelines are still on your credit report, consult with us for a free case review because this may also be a claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Fill out the contact form on this website to speak with us. We handle fair credit reporting act cases at no upfront cost to our clients!
