How Quick Can a Creditor Change a Credit Report?

Even though creditors can update records with the credit bureaus at will, they cannot control how long it takes to change a report. One type of company, rapid re-score, can change a report within a matter of hours. However, to use a rapid re-score company requires certain conditions and going through a lender.

Identification

In the scoring system set up by the major credit reporting bureaus, lenders control the information the bureaus report on a borrower's credit file. Updates can happen the same day, but the credit bureaus take up to 90 days to process new credit data forms from creditors and change data in a credit history, according to Smart Money.

Rapid Re-score Firm

The credit bureaus contract out some of the credit dispute process to rapid re-score companies. This type of firm has consent from the national credit reporting agencies to update reports almost instantly, but rapid re-score companies only work with financial institutions, such as banks and mortgage brokers. Thus consumers must find a lender willing send a request to a rapid re-score company. Most will do this for customers. The only difficult requirement is that the rapid re-score company probably won't investigate any claim beyond calling a creditor, so the consumer must get the creditor to agree that an item was a mistake before paying for a rapid re-score.

Considerations

The credit bureaus mostly automate the dispute system by sending a request to a creditor to re-report information. If a creditor has faulty data, it will keep reporting the wrong item, so fixing complex errors can take weeks or months. The Federal Trade Commission recommends initiating a dispute with creditors and the credit bureaus at the same time and including as much evidence as possible in a certified letter to any pertinent party.

Tip

Consumers can always write a letter of explanation for bad credit to future lenders until they resolve an issue with the credit bureaus. The bureaus allow consumers to leave a 100-word personal statement on any item in their credit file or the consumer could give the lender a longer, written letter. In any case, a letter of explanation could be enough to sway a lender's opinion of a borrower.