Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumers have the right to dispute the accuracy and completeness of information in their credit reports. If a consumer begins the dispute procedure in compliance with the Act, the consumer reporting agency (CRA) that compiled the report and the provider that furnished the disputed information to the CRA must follow the dispute procedure.

Consumer's Letters to CRA and Provider

In order to trigger the dispute procedure, the consumer must notify the CRA in writing of the inaccurate or incomplete information in the credit report. The consumer should send a letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the CRA. The letter must include the consumer's name and address, clearly identify the alleged inaccurate or incomplete information in the report, explain why the information is inaccurate or incomplete, and request the deletion or update of the information. The letter should include a copy of the credit report and copies of documents that support the consumer's position.

The consumer should send a similar letter to the provider that furnished the disputed information to the CRA. After the provider receives the consumer's letter, the provider must notify a CRA of the dispute if the provider reports the disputed information to the CRA.

Investigation by CRA and Provider

The CRA must investigate the disputed information and review all relevant information within 30 days of receipt of the consumer's letter, unless the CRA determines that the consumer's complaint is frivolous. The CRA must forward all relevant information regarding the dispute to the provider.

The provider must conduct its own investigation of the dispute and report the results to the CRA. If the provider determines that the disputed information is erroneous, the provider must notify all national CRAs of the error.

Resolution of the Dispute

The CRA must provide the consumer with written notice of the result of the investigation.

If the CRA determines that the credit report contains inaccurate or incomplete information, then the CRA must delete the inaccurate information from the report or update the incomplete information in the report. Upon request by the consumer, the CRA is required to notify anyone who received the report in the past six months of the change in the report. In addition, the consumer may require the CRA to send a corrected report to any employer or prospective employer that received the erroneous report within the last two years.

If the CRA cannot verify the accuracy of the disputed information, the information must be deleted from the consumer's credit report.

If the CRA determines that the disputed information is accurate and complete, the CRA is not required to delete or update the information in the report. However, the CRA must provide the consumer with the provider's name, address, and telephone number.

A consumer who is not satisfied with the result of the investigation may request the inclusion of his statement of the dispute in future credit reports. The CRA must include the statement in all future reports.

Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.