Equifax Dispute - How To

A dispute can be filed with Equifax by creating a dispute letter and mailing it to them. In your letter you will need to include a reason as to why the listing is inaccurate.

You can write a dispute letter yourself or you can hire a service to write it on your behalf. You should be aware that a dispute letter must be sent to each credit bureau.

This means that simply disputing an item with Equifax will not remove the item from your Transunion or Experian credit report. Instead you will have to send each of the bureaus a dispute letter.

Free sample dispute letter

Reasons to dispute a listing are; item is out of date, information is wrong, not my account, account paid in full, and more. The Fair Credit Reporting Act says that you have the right to dispute any mark on your credit report.

In addition this act says the bureaus must remove a listing from your report if it can not be verified. This act is what the dispute process is based upon.

Upon receipt of your dispute letter the bureaus will investigate. During the investigation they will ask the creator of the listing to verify the account, the dates on the account, and the account balance.

If this item is not verified by the creator then the bureaus must remove it from your credit report. Often investigations will result in the removal of an item from your report. This is because many businesses are not willing to spend the resources to verify disputed debts.

However before the credit bureau will conduct an investigation your dispute must be a valid dispute. There is no way to tell if the bureaus will deem your letter valid or invalid.

It is common for bureaus to respond to a dispute letter with another letter that requests more information about the dispute. This is said to be a stall tactic the bureaus use to avoid conducing and investigation.

It only costs the bureaus money to conduct an investigation. There is no revenue in it for the bureaus, their customers are businesses.

I suggest a credit repair service if you have multiple listings you wish to dispute. However you can repair your credit yourself if you have minor damage, be patient and persistent.

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In sum you can remove bad credit items without waiting 7 years. To do this you must dispute the credit bureaus.

For more tips to remove bad credit items such as a charge off