Shantell Young4 Ways To File A Dispute On Your Credit Report!
Updated: Jul 28, 2022
Ok……so you’ve decided that something needs to change and that’s your credit score! You don’t really know where to start, so you take to YouTube and you hear a lot of videos about disputing items on your credit report.
Sounds easy enough, but you’re left with some pressing questions…………
How long does it take to remove a disputed off credit report?
How much will my credit score increase if a negative item is removed?
All of these are important valid questions and I want to help you get answers.
What’s the easiest way to dispute an item off my credit?
This is a big question and to answer it I will have to ask you another question, do you want to do this on your own or would you like help?
Either way the first step is important!
1. Get a copy of your credit report.
If you want to use a credit monitoring service, they will pull this report for you.
They will also go through your report and educate you on items that could and should be disputed.
If you want to go at it alone, you can just go to any of the credit bureau sites and request a free copy of your credit report.
You're entitled to 1 free credit report a year!
2. File electronically.
If you'd like to dispute these items with a bit of help, you could sign up to CreditNerd.com, which is a company that offers free and paid services to help you monitor and dispute your Transunion credit report.
But if your one of those "do it yourself"-ers, like me, or you just prefer to file disputes electronically, you can try these options:
Credit Karma is great for helping you monitor and file disputes on your Transunion and Equifax reports. I have had Credit Karma for years and I have absolutely no complaints.
As a matter of fact, I just filed a dispute on my report about information that should have fallen off and within 2 week's time, the dispute was completed and the information was updated.
To monitor your Experian report and file disputes, you can sign up to Experian.com. You will also need to do this if you plan on taking advantage of Experian Boost.
If you're a person that does things electronically and doesn't want to call or mail each credit bureau these are some great options to help you get this done as quickly as possible.
Check this story out: Credit Repair vs Credit Counseling
3. File over the phone.
Let’s say you want to file disputes on your own, but you’re not as tech savvy as the next person.
No worries, you can call all three credit bureaus and file a dispute over the phone.
The most current contact information for all 3 bureaus:
Experian 1-888-397-3742
Equifax : 1-888-378-4329
Transunion: 1-833-395-6938
4. File by mail.
The last and slowest option is to file your dispute by mail. Yes, it is just as effective as the other ways.
Some people just like to have that paper correspondence for their records and that’s ok.
To file a dispute by mail you can use these addresses for the 3 bureaus:
Experian:
Consumer Dispute Center
P.O. Box 4500
Allen, TX 75013
Equifax:
Equifax Dispute Center
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374-0256
Transunion:
TransUnion LLC
Consumer Dispute Center
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016
Your letter should include the following items:
Your current address
Your date of birth
Your social security number
The name of the company that you are filing against
The account number of the item in question
The reason you’re filing a dispute
And, like the smart cookie I know you are, please send your letter via certified mail. This is to ensure for your records that your letter was sent and received. It also starts the clock on the 30-days they have to complete the dispute.
Here is a simple dispute letter template:
Your personal dispute letter template pdf can be downloaded by clicking
Microsoft Word Dispute on credit report letter template (1)
.docx
Download DOCX • 13KB
So now that you have learned the 4 ways you can file a dispute, let's address the other questions you’re thinking about.
Should I dispute everything on the credit report?