Sometimes a bad mark on your credit report can be the difference between you buying a new home and having to extending your lease – so at one time in your life you will have to dispute your credit report. Bad credit reporting can cost consumers hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can sue these agencies, but first, you should notify them of the inaccuracy. If you do, however, it is very important that you dispute each item correctly.
If you sue the CRA successfully, you may be entitled to damages, actual, punitive and statutory as well as attorneys’ fees and costs for bringing suit.
Dispute Your Credit Report:
If a credit reporting agency (CRA) like Equifax, Experian or Trans Union is reporting inaccurate information the best way to dispute your credit report on your own is to follow these five steps:
First Step:
Gather all the supporting documentation that shows the information is false or inaccurate. The documentation can be billing statements, dismissals of court cases, cancelled checks, and the page of the credit report with the inaccurate information highlighted or circled.
Second Step:
Get your credit report from the proper CRA. It is oftentimes that one or two bureaus are showing an inaccurate credit item on your credit report. If this is the case, go to www.annualcreditreport.com.
This website is created by the Fair Credit Reporting Act in Section 15 USC Section 1681. This service is entirely free. Feel free to ignore any of the advertisements that charge you money. The report you will get will not have your score, but there is a credit report number that you can reference in step 3.
Please note, in early 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against Equifax, Inc., TransUnion, for misrepresenting the usefulness and cost of credit scores the two CRAs sold to consumers. These CRAs directed consumers to enroll in recurring credit card charges for credit-related products. The CFPB required both of the CRAs to accurately explain and disclose the enrollment and the usefulness of the credit scores they were selling to consumers. TransUnion and Equifax must pay more than $17.6 million to consumers as a result of the CFPB’s findings as well as fines totaling $5.5 million to the CFPB (credit reporting is a big business).
Basically, keep clicking on the links for a FREE credit report.
Third Step:
Send a Dispute Letter certified return receipt requested to the CRA (their addresses are listed below). You can use our Sample Dispute Letter. The most important thing you can do is be sure to accurately identify the debt and the account number. Include copies (not originals) of any and all supporting documentation you have proving that it is wrong. This is key for the credit bureaus to identify what is wrong with your credit report.
Also, if they do not correct the credit item, you can show that you tried everything you can before filing suit. Be sure to keep a copy of the letter and certified mail receipt. You may also include your credit report in the mailing or use the reference number of the credit report. That way the CRAs will certainly have enough information to update your report.
Send a Dispute Letter certified return receipt (sometimes the post office will not let you do this because most CRAs use PO Boxes. If this is the case, use certified mail) requested to the creditor who reported the information (their address should appear on the credit report). Include copies (not originals) of the supporting documentation.
Fourth Step:
Be sure to keep a copy of the letter and certified mail receipt. At this stage, you want to make sure you have a copy of everything.
Fifth Step:
Follow up with your disputes. If you received a letter from the CRA or creditor save it. By law, the CRA’s and the creditors have 30 days to correct inaccurate information, so pull your credit report after 30 days to see if the inaccurate information appears. CRAs typically send you a new credit report and an investigation summary within this time frame.
Contact A Credit Reporting Attorney: If you followed these five steps and there is still inaccurate information it is time to contact us. We provide a free initial consultation to people with credit disputes. This litigation allows for attorneys’ fees as a part of damages. Therefore, if you have a good case, we may take it for no fee unless we recover from the CRA, the first step you have to take is to dispute your credit report.
CRA Addresses:
(Addresses are subject to change – check each CRAs website for most up to date information):
Experian Information Solutions, Inc.
P.O. Box 4500
Allen, TX 75013
TransUnion Consumer Solutions
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022-2000
Equifax Information Services LLC
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
