You can fix errors on your credit report by disputing them directly with the credit bureaus and the businesses that reported the wrong information. The process is free, you can do it yourself, and credit bureaus are legally required to investigate and resolve most disputes within 30 days. Here’s how to do it step by step.
Get Your Credit Reports First
Before you can fix anything, you need to see what’s on your reports. The three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, each maintain a separate file on you, and errors might appear on one, two, or all three. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com to pull your reports for free. This is the only official site; others may charge you or attempt to collect your personal information.
You’re entitled to one free report from each bureau every 12 months by law, but all three bureaus have made free weekly access permanent. That means you can check as often as you need to while you’re working through disputes and monitoring the results.
What to Look For
Credit report errors fall into a few common categories. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, these are the types of mistakes that show up most often:
- Identity errors: A wrong name, phone number, or address. Sometimes another person’s accounts get mixed into your file because you share a similar name.
- Account ownership errors: You’re listed as the account owner when you’re actually just an authorized user, or accounts opened through identity theft appear under your name.
- Account status errors: A closed account reported as open, an account incorrectly marked as late or delinquent, or wrong dates for your last payment, account opening, or first delinquency.
- Balance and limit errors: An incorrect current balance or an incorrect credit limit on a revolving account like a credit card.
- Duplicate debts: The same debt listed more than once, sometimes under slightly different names if it was sold to a collection agency.
Go through each section of every report carefully. Circle or highlight anything that looks wrong, unfamiliar, or outdated. Even a small error, like a misspelled name, is worth disputing because it could indicate a mixed file where someone else’s information is bleeding into yours.
File a Dispute With Each Credit Bureau
You need to dispute the error with every bureau that has it. If the same mistake appears on your Equifax and TransUnion reports but not Experian, you file with Equifax and TransUnion separately. Each bureau operates independently and won’t share your dispute with the others.
You can file disputes online, by phone, or by mail. Online is fastest, but mailing a written dispute gives you the strongest paper trail. If you go the mail route, send your letter by certified mail with a return receipt so you have proof the bureau received it.
Your dispute letter should include:
- Your full name and address
- A clear description of each error you want corrected and why it’s wrong
- Copies (never originals) of documents that support your case, such as bank statements, payment confirmations, or account closing letters
- A copy of your credit report with the errors circled or marked
If the bureau provides a dispute form, include that as well. Keep copies of everything you send.
For phone or online disputes, here’s how to reach each bureau:
- Equifax: (866) 349-5191 or equifax.com
- Experian: (888) 397-3742 or experian.com
- TransUnion: (800) 916-8800 or transunion.com
Dispute With the Business That Reported It
At the same time you contact the bureaus, send a separate dispute to the business that furnished the inaccurate information. This could be a bank, credit card company, auto lender, or collection agency. Your letter should include the same details: your name and address, a description of each error, and copies of supporting documents.
Many businesses want disputes mailed to a specific address that may differ from their main office. Check your credit report for the furnisher’s contact information, or look on the company’s website for a dispute or correspondence address. If you can’t find one, call the company and ask where to send it.
Filing with both the bureau and the furnisher puts pressure on the error from two directions. The bureau will contact the furnisher as part of its investigation, but having your own dispute on file with the business creates an additional obligation for them to review and respond.
What Happens After You File
Once a credit bureau receives your dispute, it’s required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to investigate and resolve the issue, usually within 30 days. During the investigation, the bureau contacts the business that reported the information and asks it to verify the data. If the business can’t verify it, or confirms the information is wrong, the bureau must correct or delete it.
After the investigation, the bureau will send you the results in writing along with a free copy of your updated report if changes were made. If the dispute results in a change, you can also request that the bureau send a corrected report to anyone who pulled your credit within the past six months (or two years for employment-related inquiries).
If the bureau sides against you and keeps the information as-is, you have the right to add a brief personal statement to your file explaining your side of the dispute. You can also escalate by filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov, which can prompt a second look.
Keep Records of Everything
Documentation is your biggest advantage in this process. Save every letter you send and receive, take screenshots of online dispute confirmations, and note the dates and names of anyone you speak with by phone. If a bureau or furnisher drags its feet or fails to correct an obvious error, your records establish a timeline that strengthens any follow-up complaint.
After a dispute is resolved in your favor, check your reports again in 30 to 60 days to confirm the correction actually went through. Errors sometimes reappear if the furnisher continues sending the old data to the bureau. If that happens, file a new dispute and reference your earlier case.
You Don’t Need to Pay Anyone to Do This
Credit repair companies will offer to fix your credit for a fee, but they cannot do anything you can’t do yourself for free. The dispute process described above is the same one these companies use. Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, it’s illegal for a credit repair company to demand payment before performing any services, make misleading claims about what they can accomplish, or operate without a written contract that includes your right to cancel.
If a company guarantees it can remove accurate negative information from your report, that’s a red flag. No one can legally remove information that’s both accurate and timely. Legitimate negative marks, like a late payment that actually happened, stay on your report for seven years. Bankruptcies can remain for up to ten. What you can fix are errors: information that’s inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable. That’s the standard the law holds credit bureaus to, and it’s the standard you should focus on when reviewing your own reports.