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Credit Report Dispute

The federal process for forcing a credit bureau and the company that reported an item to investigate information you say is wrong.

Informational only - this is not legal advice. These definitions explain general legal vocabulary in plain English. They are not advice about your situation, reading them creates no attorney-client relationship, and the law differs from state to state and changes over time. For advice you can rely on, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of Consumer Rights law firms.

What it means

Consumer reporting agencies must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy, and a consumer who disputes an item directly with the agency triggers a mandatory reinvestigation. The agency must generally complete it within a defined period, must forward the dispute and all relevant information to the company that furnished the item, and must delete or correct anything it cannot verify.

The step most often skipped is disputing with the furnisher as well - the lender, collector or other company that supplied the information. Furnishers have their own investigation duties once a dispute reaches them through the agency, and a furnisher that keeps reporting information it knows to be inaccurate is a separate problem from an agency that fails to investigate.

Accuracy is not the only right in this area. The statute limits who may obtain a report and for what purposes, requires notice when information in a report is used against a consumer, and restricts how long most negative information may be reported.

Several details of the dispute process are easy to miss. The reinvestigation must be free of charge (15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(1)(A)). An agency may treat a dispute as frivolous or irrelevant, for example when it lacks enough information to investigate, but it must then tell the consumer so and say what is missing (§ 1681i(a)(3)). If an item is deleted, it may not be put back unless the furnisher certifies that it is complete and accurate and the consumer is notified of the reinsertion (§ 1681i(a)(5)(B)). If a dispute does not resolve the matter, the consumer may file a brief statement of the dispute, and later reports must note that the item is disputed (§ 1681i(b) and (c)). A furnisher's duty to investigate under § 1681s-2(b) is triggered by notice from the agency. The statute gives consumers no private claim for a furnisher's general accuracy duty in § 1681s-2(a) (see § 1681s-2(c)).

Where this comes from

The Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1681x. Accuracy procedures are at § 1681e(b), the consumer dispute and reinvestigation process at § 1681i, furnisher responsibilities at § 1681s-2, permissible purposes at § 1681b, adverse-action notice at § 1681m, and the reporting time limits at § 1681c. Willful and negligent noncompliance are actionable under §§ 1681n and 1681o.

When people hire a lawyer for this

The point at which advice becomes useful is when a properly made dispute has already failed - the item was "verified" without any apparent investigation, or it was corrected and then reappeared. Disputing in writing and keeping proof of what was sent and when is what makes that failure demonstrable, and the statute provides for fees, so the cost of pursuing it is not necessarily borne by the consumer.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

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Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

Automatic Renewal and Negative Option SubscriptionsThe federal and state rules on subscriptions that keep charging until you cancel - what a seller must disclose and obtain before enrolling you, the cancellation mechanism it must offer, and where the law currently stands.
Billing Error Dispute (Credit Card Chargeback)The federal procedure for disputing a charge on a credit card statement - a written process with deadlines on both sides that the card issuer must follow, not a courtesy it may offer.
Car Dealer FraudThe common deceptive practices in buying a car - spot delivery, hidden damage, odometer rollback, packed add-ons and financing markups - and the federal and state laws that give buyers claims against the dealer and the lender.
Class ActionOne lawsuit brought by named plaintiffs on behalf of a larger group with the same injury.
Cooling-Off Rule (Canceling a Door-to-Door Sale)The federal right to cancel certain sales made at your home or away from the seller's regular place of business, the notice the seller must give you, and the many sales it does not reach.
Credit Freeze and Fraud AlertTwo free federal tools for stopping identity thieves from opening accounts in your name - one that locks your credit file, one that warns lenders to check who they are dealing with.
Data Breach Notification RightsWhat a business must tell you when your personal information is exposed, which laws require it, what the notice must say, and what a person whose data was breached can actually claim.
Debt Validation Notice and Disputing a DebtThe written notice a debt collector must send when it first contacts you, what it must contain, and the dispute right it opens - during which the collector must stop until it verifies the debt.
Fair Debt Collection (Collector Conduct Rules)Federal limits on what a third-party debt collector may say and do - including a written demand that stops contact, and a 30-day right to make them verify the debt.
Gift Card and Prepaid Card RulesThe federal limits on gift card expiration and fees, the state laws that go further, and the separate protections for reloadable prepaid cards used like bank accounts.
Identity Theft Recovery RightsThe federal rights a victim of identity theft can use to remove fraudulent accounts from a credit report, obtain the records of what the thief did, stop the debts being collected, and limit liability for the charges.
Implied Warranty and the Magnuson-Moss ActThe promises the law reads into a sale whether or not anyone wrote them down, and the federal act that limits how a seller can take them away.
Investment Fraud and Broker Misconduct ClaimsAn investor's remedies when a broker, adviser or issuer misrepresented an investment, churned an account, recommended unsuitable products or stole, and why most broker claims go to FINRA arbitration rather than court.
Legal Malpractice (Suing Your Lawyer)A claim that a lawyer's negligence or breach of duty cost the client money, which usually requires proving the client would have done better in the original matter.
Mandatory Arbitration ClauseA term in a consumer contract that sends any dispute to a private arbitrator instead of a court, usually alone rather than as part of a class - and federal law makes most of them enforceable.
Professional Malpractice (Accountants, Architects, Engineers, Brokers and Other Professionals)A claim that a licensed professional other than a doctor or lawyer fell below the standard of care of their profession and caused a financial or physical loss.
Right of Rescission (Home Loans)A federal right to cancel certain loans secured by your home during a short window after signing - and for much longer if the lender failed to give the required disclosures.
Robocalls and the TCPAThe federal law that restricts automated and prerecorded calls and texts to your phone, gives you a Do Not Call right, and lets you sue for a fixed amount per illegal call.
Time-Barred DebtA debt so old that the statute of limitations bars a lawsuit to collect it - what a collector may and may not do about it, how a payment can revive it, and why the credit-reporting clock is a different clock.
Unauthorized Debit Card and Electronic Transfers (Regulation E)The federal rules that limit a consumer's loss from an unauthorized debit card, ATM, ACH or payment-app transfer, require the bank to investigate an error, and decide who bears a loss the consumer was tricked into sending themselves.
Unfair and Deceptive Practices (UDAP)The consumer-protection laws, one federal and one in every state, that make it illegal for a business to mislead you or treat you unfairly - and the state versions are the ones a consumer can actually sue under.
Vehicle RepossessionA lender's right to take back a financed car after default without going to court - subject to rules about how it is taken, how it is sold, and what you can still be made to pay afterwards.
Wage GarnishmentA legal order requiring an employer to withhold part of someone's pay and send it to a creditor.

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Part of the LawyerLand plain-English legal glossary. Definitions are written from primary sources - statutes and court rules - and each entry states the authority it rests on, or says plainly when the doctrine is state law with no national rule.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, civil legal aid programs provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programs by state.

Related free reference tools: statute of limitations for a personal-injury claim, by state, quoted from each state's official text - part of LawyerLand's legal reference tools.