How to Dispute Bad Credit

In order to dispute bad credit on your report, you can either pay a company to do this for you or do it yourself. It will cost you nothing to do it yourself, while paying a company to contact the creditors and fight your bad credit can run into at least $800 per item you want removed. The company will not guarantee anything either. In order to dispute bad credit on your own, it will require time, patience and perseverance.

Instructions

1

Request a credit report from each of the three major credit agencies. They are Experian at 800-685-1111, Equifax at 888-397-3747, and Trans Union at 800-916-8800. Then, prepare a letter stating your dispute along with any documentation that may support your claim. Be sure to send only copies of any documentation you may have and keep the originals for yourself. You can dispute anything from an incorrect address to an incorrect amount of money owed. Keep a copy of the dispute letter, as well.

2

Check your report online, or call the agencies to find out the status of your dispute after 30 days. It takes at least that amount of time in order for the dispute to be resolved. Sometimes, it can take up to 45 days. However, if there is no response from the creditor to the credit agency within 30 days, then they will automatically remove the account in bad standing from your report. Even if you are simply disputing your address, and there is no response, then the agency can remove it.

3

Receive another report on your credit. This will be sent to you for free, as well, to show you what the results are on paper. If there weren't any changes, then you can dispute the bad credit again, but not on the same subject. Therefore, if you disputed that your address needed to be changed, and they verified this as correct, then you will need to dispute something else or show more in-depth documentation. They will not dispute the same complaint twice unless you have more detailed documentation to show proof of your statement. If the dispute was regarding a non-payment, and you have proof of the cashed check then send a copy of the canceled check. However, there has to be solid proof for anything disputed twice in order for the agency to go forth with the investigation.

4

Write another letter explaining the problem, and mail it along with the documentation. Once the information is corrected on your report, there can be a letter upon your request sent out to those that requested your credit report in the past six months.

5

Call the creditor with your dispute. If they claim you owe them more money than originally stated, it might be an accumulation of interest fees put onto the original amount. In order to settle this, you can call the creditor and coordinate a payment plan or a settlement amount. Many creditors will settle for half of the amount owed since most of the time they do not see any of the owed debt. Whatever the agreement, be sure to get it in writing. Also, ask for them to remove all information from your report or put it in good standing once it is paid.

6

Request another credit report once you make a settlement with the creditor. This should also be sent to you for free from the credit agency, and it should show the updated information.