Fixing a Mistake on a Credit Report

Your credit report is a record of your credit history and is used by lenders, landlords, and other entities to evaluate your creditworthiness. If you find inaccurate or incomplete information on your credit report, you have the right to dispute it.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that regulates credit reporting agencies and the information they collect and report about you. Under the FCRA, you can dispute inaccurate information on your credit report with both the credit reporting agency and the entity that provided the inaccurate information.

STEP 1: Get the credit report by sending USPS mail request with ID docs or call (15 USC §1681(g))

STEP 2: Review the file disclosures

Types of inaccurate information to look out for:

• Mixed file
• ID theft
• Unsealed case was dismissed but record doesn’t show that
• Debt that was already paid in full but the credit reporting agency still lists on your credit report as being owed
• An outstanding balance that is more than you owe
• Information that is past the applicable reporting period (e.g., many delinquencies must drop off the report after seven years)

STEP 3: Dispute the inaccurate information.

Sent a packet of materials to dispute the inaccurate information by certified mail. Don't forget to send (1) a letter to dispute the inaccurate information, (2) a copy of your ID, (3) copy of the page of the credit report containing the record, and (4) copy of the sealing order or other evidence that shows that the information is inaccurate.

Keep copies of letters sent to credit reporting agencies for your records.

STEP 4: Wait for the credit reporting authority to respond.

The credit reporting authority must respond within 30 days. They must do the following:

• Conduct a reasonable reinvestigation to determine whether the disputed information is inaccurate
• Notify the Furnisher of the dispute
• Consider info submitted by the consumer
• Delete any inaccurate or unverifiable info
• Send consumer results of the dispute
• At your request, the CRA is required to send correction notices to anyone who received your credit report in the past six months (2 years if the report was for employment purposes)

STEP 5: Check the credit report and dispute if not corrected.

If the credit reporting agency and furnisher/public record vendor does not delete the inaccurate record, the tenant should submit another dispute that attaches everything again and include the prior dispute and response as well.