You can dispute a U.S. credit report entry if it is inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, or belongs to someone else. Start with each credit bureau displaying the error, and send the same evidence to the company that furnished the information.

Be specific. Identify the account, quote or describe the incorrect entry, state what it should say, and attach records that support that correction. A dispute won't remove accurate negative information merely because it lowers your score.

The Federal Trade Commission's guidance on credit report errors explains why accuracy matters: credit reports can affect loans and borrowing costs, housing, insurance, and employment.

Check all three reports first

Get separate reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The FTC's free credit report guidance directs consumers to AnnualCreditReport.com, the authorized source for free reports. Check the site's current access instructions rather than paying another website for a report.

The reports may not match. A creditor might furnish information to one or two bureaus but not the third, and correcting one report doesn't necessarily correct the others.

Review each report for:

• Accounts or hard inquiries you don't recognize
• Duplicate accounts or collection entries
• Incorrect balances, credit limits, or payment statuses
• Late payments assigned to the wrong month or level of delinquency
• Closed accounts reported as open
• Paid, settled, or discharged debts showing the wrong status
• Personal information that appears to belong to another consumer
• Information that appears to exceed the applicable reporting period

Save the original reports before filing anything. For every questionable item, note the bureau, furnisher, account number or last four digits, balance, status, and exact entry you want changed.

Decide whether the item is actually disputable

Bad news isn't necessarily inaccurate news. An accurate collection, late payment, or repossession generally can't be removed through a factual credit-report dispute.

Most negative information can generally remain for up to seven years. Bankruptcy information can generally remain for up to 10 years, although the applicable period and exceptions depend on the type of information.

These are common errors and the records that may help establish them:

If a late payment is accurate, you may ask the creditor for a goodwill adjustment. The creditor isn't required to grant one, and a goodwill request isn't an FCRA dispute.

Build the dispute around evidence

A useful dispute connects a particular error to a particular correction. Before submitting it:

1. Mark the entry on a copy of the report.
2. Record what the report says and what it should say.
3. Gather documents supporting the change.
4. Make copies; don't send original records.
5. Redact unrelated account numbers and sensitive details where possible.
6. Save a complete copy of the submission.

Depending on the error, useful records might include account statements, payment confirmations, creditor letters, settlement documents, account ledgers, insurance explanations of benefits, or identity-theft reports. Provide proof of identity or address if the bureau requests it, using the bureau's secure upload system or mailing instructions.

Don't claim that an entire report is wrong without identifying the entries. Repeated, identical disputes with no new information can also work against you. A bureau may treat a dispute as frivolous or irrelevant if it lacks enough information to investigate.

How to dispute a credit report error

1. Contact every bureau displaying the item

If an account appears only on your Experian report, dispute it with Experian. If it appears on all three reports, contact all three bureaus.

An online dispute can work well for a straightforward error, especially when the portal accepts supporting documents. Mail may be more practical if several related facts require explanation or you want a delivery record. For a mailed dispute, choose a method that provides tracking or other proof of delivery.

2. State exactly what needs to change

Include enough information for the bureau to locate both your file and the disputed entry:

• Your full name and current mailing address
• The date
• The report or confirmation number, if available
• The furnisher's name
• The account number or last four digits
• The information being disputed
• The reason it is inaccurate or incomplete
• The correction requested
• A list of supporting documents
• A request for the investigation result and an updated report

Use only the identifying information the bureau requires. Don't put your full Social Security number in an ordinary email or an attachment that doesn't need it.

3. Send a direct dispute to the furnisher

The furnisher is the bank, card issuer, lender, landlord, collector, or other business that sent the information to the bureau. Send that company the same focused explanation and copies of the supporting records. Use the dispute address listed on your report or the company's official website.

The CFPB's guidance on reasonable investigations stresses that companies must reasonably investigate disputes rather than use rigid procedures to avoid considering relevant evidence.

4. Keep a dispute log

Save confirmation numbers, screenshots, letters, uploaded files, postal receipts, and delivery records. Your log should show:

• When and where each dispute was submitted
• Which entries it covered
• What evidence accompanied it
• When the bureau or furnisher responded
• Whether additional information was requested
• What the final notice said

That record becomes especially useful if evidence is overlooked or a response arrives late.

5. Allow time for the investigation

Under Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a credit bureau generally must complete its reinvestigation within 30 days after receiving the dispute. The period may extend to 45 days in certain circumstances, including some disputes connected with a free report and cases in which the consumer submits relevant additional information during the investigation.

The bureau normally sends the dispute information to the furnisher and considers the response. If the bureau finds the dispute frivolous or irrelevant, it must notify you and explain why, including what information may be needed to investigate it.

6. Compare the result with the original report

The response may say the information was corrected, deleted, verified, or could not be verified. Don't evaluate the outcome solely by watching your credit score. Compare the new report with the saved original and check:

• Account status
• Current balance
• Payment history
• Relevant dates
• Account number
• Duplicate entries

A correction might affect your score, but no particular increase is guaranteed. The effect depends on the corrected information, the rest of your credit file, and the scoring model being used.

Standard bureau mailing addresses

Mailing addresses and document requirements can change. Confirm the current instructions on the bureau's official website before sending sensitive records. Identity-theft blocks and specialty-report disputes may use different procedures.

Use the bureau's official site for an online submission, not a paid third-party form. Experian's dispute instructions also tell consumers mailing documents to send copies rather than originals.

Credit report dispute letter template

Customize the letter for the bureau and the entries it reports. If several errors involve unrelated accounts, separating them clearly makes the requested corrections easier to follow.

[Your full name]
[Your current mailing address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Date]

[Credit bureau name]
[Current dispute address]

Re: Dispute of inaccurate information in my credit report

I am disputing the following information:

Furnisher: [company name]
Account number: [account number or last four digits]
Reported information: [quote or describe the inaccurate entry]
Correct information: [state exactly what should appear]

The information is inaccurate because [give the relevant facts and dates].

Please conduct a reasonable reinvestigation and correct or delete the
information if it cannot be verified as complete and accurate.

I have enclosed copies of [list each document]. Please send me the
investigation results and an updated copy of my report.

Sincerely,

[Your name]
[Optional phone number or email]

Keep the wording factual. Don't accuse a company of fraud without evidence, threaten legal action as a substitute for documentation, or describe a recognized debt as identity theft.

Evidence for common report errors

Late payments

State the due date, payment date, and delinquency status shown on the report. Attach records such as bank statements, payment confirmations, canceled checks, account history, or a lender's letter.

Paying an account later doesn't require a creditor to erase accurate payment history. If the late payment is correct but was isolated, a voluntary goodwill request is separate from the formal dispute process.

Collection accounts

Compare the original creditor, collection balance, account dates, and payment status. Look for a debt that isn't yours, an already-paid balance, duplicated collection entries, or dates that don't match the account history.

Keep any letters from the collector. Debt-collection validation procedures are separate from credit-report disputes, so follow the instructions and deadlines in recent collection notices rather than relying on a bureau dispute alone.

Unauthorized inquiries

First check whether the entry is a hard inquiry associated with a credit application. If you didn't apply, contact the company identified in the inquiry and dispute the entry with every bureau reporting it. Include identity-theft documentation if fraud caused the inquiry.

Identity theft

Use the FTC's identity-theft reporting process, then examine all three credit reports. Contact the bureaus displaying fraudulent accounts or inquiries as well as the businesses that furnished them.

A bureau may request an identity-theft report, proof of identity, proof of address, and a list of fraudulent entries. Ask for its instructions on blocking identity-theft information. A security freeze or fraud alert can help prevent new misuse, but neither corrects fraudulent information already in the file.

Medical debt

There is no active blanket federal rule removing all medical debt from credit reports. A CFPB rule intended to restrict medical-debt reporting was vacated by a federal court, as described in this summary of the medical-debt ruling.

Separately, the nationwide credit bureaus announced voluntary policies that generally exclude:

• Paid medical collections
• Medical collections less than one year old
• Unpaid medical collections with an initial reported balance below $500

The National Consumer Law Center's medical-debt overview discusses those bureau policies and state-level developments. Because policies and state requirements can change, verify the current treatment with the bureau reporting the debt.

If the medical entry is factually wrong, dispute that specific error. An insurance explanation of benefits, provider ledger, payment receipt, charity-care approval, or account statement may support the correction. HIPAA isn't a general procedure for deleting an otherwise accurate medical collection.

If the bureau says the information was verified

A verification doesn't establish that every detail is correct. Read the notice, compare the entry with your evidence, and determine what remains wrong.

Then:

1. Identify any evidence the bureau appears to have missed.
2. Submit new, relevant records rather than repeating the same unsupported claim.
3. Dispute directly with the furnisher at its designated address.
4. Ask the bureau about its investigation procedure and the option to add a brief statement of dispute.
5. If the dispute was mishandled, file a CFPB complaint and attach your timeline, result notice, and supporting documents.
6. Consider qualified nonprofit or legal help if the unresolved error is causing a loan denial, higher borrowing cost, housing problem, or employment issue.

A statement of dispute may let you explain the disagreement in your file, subject to the bureau's requirements. It doesn't guarantee deletion and isn't a replacement for supplying evidence of the correct information.

Do you need a credit repair company?

You can dispute report errors yourself without paying a credit repair service. A company can't lawfully obtain special treatment for accurate information or guarantee a particular score increase.

Before hiring a service, read its contract, cancellation terms, and fee schedule. Avoid anyone promising to erase every negative entry, guarantee score increases, create a new credit identity, or dispute information you know is accurate.

Dispute checklist

• Download all three reports from AnnualCreditReport.com.
• Save the original reports.
• Identify each inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, or unfamiliar entry.
• Gather documents showing what the entry should say.
• Contact every bureau displaying the error.
• Send the evidence to the furnisher as well.
• Retain online confirmations or proof of mail delivery.
• Allow 30 days in most cases, subject to a possible 45-day period.
• Compare the written result and updated report with the original.
• If the error remains, prepare the next submission around new evidence or a clearly overlooked fact.