Can I Have a Civil Suit That Was Dismissed Taken off of My Credit Report?

Protect your credit by checking your credit report annually. Under revisions to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can access a copy of your credit report from all three national credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, once a year at no cost to you. You can request the removal or correction of any inaccurate information, including a dismissed civil suit, from all three agencies.

Your Credit File

All three national CRAs report information about your bill-paying habits, if you have filed for bankruptcy, if you have been arrested or if you have been sued. In some cases, employers may access this information before offering you a job. Creditors and insurers use the data in your credit report to determine credit-worthiness and the rate of interest you will pay. In some cases, detrimental information, such as a pending civil suit, can adversely affect your chances for a loan, insurance coverage or the job of your dreams.

Correcting Inaccuracies

Under the FCRA, you have options with regard to erroneous or outdated information. Both the CRAs and the court that provides information to the agencies about your civil suit are required to supply accurate, complete, up-to-date data. Just like a paid-off credit card that at one time was in collection, the credit report will reflect the account's current status but will not remove the previous default or late payments, as with the case with a civil suit. In most cases, the credit reporting agency will correct the status of the civil suit to dismissed but may not completely remove the lawsuit from your file.

Accessing Your Credit Report

You can get a free copy of your credit report from all three CRAs by visiting annualcreditreport.com and answering pertinent questions. You may also get copies of your reports by making a toll-free call to 877-322-8228. If you prefer, you can request the Annual Credit Report Request Form from the toll-free number, and mail it to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

Considerations

If you dispute the civil suit on your credit report, follow up with all three agencies to make sure its status is properly reflected in your file. Generally, the CRAs have 30 days to respond to your dispute. Because creditors may report to any or all of the agencies, you should always get copies from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Besides the annual statement, you can also get a free copy of your credit report if you are denied credit, insurance or a job as a result of information contained in your credit file. You have 60 days from the date you receive notice of the adverse action to request the report. The website, annualcreditreport.com, is the only site authorized to supply you with the free credit report you can get under the FCRA. Other companies supply the reports, but with strings attached. Make sure you are aware of the conditions before making a commitment.