How to Dispute Negative Accounts in My Credit Report

Negative credit report accounts include things such as loans and credit cards with many late or missed payments, or accounts that went unpaid so long they were charged off by the lenders. Other harmful things include repossessed cars, foreclosed houses and legal judgments. These entries look bad when you apply for credit and lenders check your records. This type of negative mark usually stays on your credit reports for seven years, but disputing them sometimes gets them erased earlier, according to the the Divorcenet legal information site.

Instructions

1

Find all the negative items on your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion credit reports. The three credit bureaus are separate entities, so their information sometimes differs. The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, mandates that you can get a free copy of each report annually through a special website (see Resources section). If you already received no-cost copies earlier in the year, you can pay the bureaus for their latest reports, or you can wait until you are eligible again for free reports. Highlight every entry that is hurting your credit rating.

2

Compare the negative items to your records and circle any inconsistencies. Creditors sometimes misspell names or report the wrong dates, credit limits or account balances to the credit bureaus. All of these things give you valid grounds for initiating disputes.

3

Compose detailed letters to each credit bureau, citing the mistakes and asking for an investigation. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion all accept electronic disputes through their websites, but the FTC states that it is better to put things in writing and to get delivery receipts for the letters.

Photocopy your documentation and enclose copies with each letter to prove that your disputes are valid. The bureaus can refuse to investigate if the complaints seem frivolous, Divorcenet cautions.

4

Review the corrected credit report, and dispute any erroneous negative results you receive from the credit bureaus. The FTC explains that the bureaus are given 30 days for their investigations, so they typically respond in about 45 days. The bureaus contact the creditors who are reporting the disputed information and ask for verification. They remove the related entries if there is no response, or if some of the creditors cannot properly validate the accounts.

5

Write to creditors who validate information that you still believe is incorrect on negative accounts, the FTC recommends. Ask them to stop reporting the account to the credit bureaus.

6

Send a consumer statement to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion for any negative items that contain mistakes if the bureaus and creditors refuse to remove such items. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco explains that the statement should be less than 100 words. The statement goes to everyone who orders credit report copies.