We found the dispute process clearly set forth in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Some professionals may claim superior knowledge but as far as the dispute process goes there is not much to know provided you have properly frame your dispute, have the correct forms and credit bureau addresses or fax numbers. Keep in mind that the initial dispute serves as the starting point of what is known as credit repair, and is not a comprehensive guideline of what can be done according to our research.
Consumers can dispute bad credit items contained in their credit report and can perform the same function as a professional. Where a credit repair professional seems to have an advantage is organization, time and familiarity with the execution of the process. Because the credit repair professional performs this process daily and many have been doing this for years, they are extremely organized and have supporting technology that enable them to efficiently interface with the bureaus.
This is the simplest version of the dispute process. There are other procedures and courses of action in addition to these:
- When a consumer notifies the credit bureau that their credit history contains inaccurate information (dispute), the credit reporting bureau must promptly investigate the matter with the company (creditor or collector) that provided the information.
- If the item that the consumer disputes is verified by the creditor that supplied the information to the credit bureau in the first place, you will be notified in writing that the disputed item was "verified" and it will remain in your credit history with that particular credit bureau.
- If the item you disputed is NOT verified by the creditor that supplied the information to the credit reporting bureau in the first place then the credit reporting bureau must remove the inaccurate or unverified information from your credit file.
That is the dispute process in a nutshell. We found entire books dedicated to the subject of credit repair and when you factor in the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the dispute process and the recourses available if the dispute process fails.
The key we found in successful disputes was not whether or not the item was true or not true, but whether the item was verifiable. This is why careful examination of the credit report and the proper identification of disputable information are critical. If an item appears on a consumer credit report, it is because a creditor reported a past due account with the consumer's name and social security number. Therefore claiming the account was simply not the consumer's account is usually met with verification and a failure of the dispute process.
