How to Write a Simple Dispute Letter to a Credit Reporting Agency (CRA)

The best way to dispute something on your credit report is by writing a letter and sending it by certified mail.  This will give you a record of the dispute (not available for on-line disputes).

START WITH A HARD COPY OF YOUR CREDIT REPORT

You order a printed copy of your report directly from the CRA, or go to annualcreditreport.com and get the a free report from the three biggest Credit Reporting Agencies (one free report each year from each of the CRAs)

START OF LETTER

Date

Credit Reporting Agency

123 Street

City, State 00000

RE:  Credit report number 0000000000

Sent via certified mail article number 0000 0000 0000 0000

To whom it may concern:

I am writing this letter to dispute a tradeline on my credit report.

CUT AND PASTE THE OFFENDING TRADELINE

What you want to do is reprint the problem tradeline.  The tradeline is an entry for an account on your credit report.  You can scan the credit report and cut paste the lines that you want to dispute.  You can get a copy of the page and highlight tradeline with a marker or circle it in pen.

EXPLAIN YOUR DISPUTE

Write a short explanation of your problem with the tradeline.  You need to explain what is inaccurate (not mine, never late, etc.)

END OF LETTER

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.  Please consider this a letter of demand.

Respectfully submitted,

Your Name

Your address

City, state  00000

IDENTIFY YOURSELF

Lately people have having a problem with CRAs identifying disputes as “suspicious activity”.  Include a copy of the cover page on your credit report.  This will include your name, address and a CRA generated reference number.  You can also send a copy of a government id (passport, driver’s license, etc).

GET READ BY A REAL HUMAN

Credit reporting agencies use big computers to scan and read your letters.  The computer identifies key words and shoots out a canned response.  There are a couple techniques to combat this.  A. Hand write your letter (ugh).   B.  Use an italic cursive font in lilac or teal color.

*  if your dispute comes from your free annual credit report, the CRAs have 45 days to respond; otherwise they have 30 days

*  if you send another letter to the CRA, it will be interpreted as "additional information" and 15 days will be added to the investigation period.

Comments (1)

donata said:

	... Very well done! Thanks for sharing. 5*****
	report abuse vote down vote up

April 29, 2010
Votes: +0