Dispute Your Credit Report
By law, you are entitled to a free credit report each year from each of the three national credit reporting bureaus.
Notice something on your credit report that looks wrong?
You can ask to fix mistakes on your credit report for free. Here’s how:
- Ask the credit reporting agency for a dispute form or submit your dispute in writing along with copies of any supporting documents. Keep a copy of what you send for your records.
- Clearly identify each item in your report that you think is wrong, explain why you disagree with the information, and request a reinvestigation.
- If the credit bureau investigation changes your credit report, the credit bureau must give you the results in writing and a free copy of your report.
- Ask that a corrected version of the report be sent to anyone who got your report within the past six months. Job applicants can have corrected reports sent to anyone who got a copy for employment reasons in the past two years.
- The credit bureau cannot put the disputed information back in your file unless the creditor verifies the information. If that happens, the credit bureau must write to you and give you the name, address and phone number of the creditor.
- You can dispute the information with the creditor in writing. Many creditors, like credit card companies or banks, have an address where you can send your dispute. If the creditor reports the information to the credit bureau, it must tell them that you dispute it.
- If the reinvestigation doesn’t fix the problem, have the credit bureau include your version of the dispute in your file and in future reports.
We Can Help
If you have a complaint about a credit dispute, contact us for help or call toll free within North Carolina at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM.