Credit Debt
Your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, how to file a dispute that gets investigated, and how to escalate when a bureau says verified.
1
Disputing is free and you never need a credit repair company to do it.
2
Bureaus generally have 30 days to investigate, extended to 45 if you send extra documents mid-investigation.
3
Dispute with the bureau and the furnisher (the lender or collector) at the same time. The furnisher is who actually verifies.
4
Send by mail with tracking. Online disputes are faster but produce a weaker paper trail if you have to escalate.
Credit bureaus generally have 30 days from receiving your dispute to investigate and respond. That extends to 45 days if you submit additional information after filing.
No. Filing a dispute does not lower your score, and an item marked as disputed is generally excluded from some scoring calculations while under investigation.
Read the full guide