How to Dispute a Judgment With the Credit Bureaus
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) established in 1970, credit reporting agencies must follow specific regulations involving the data on your credit report. If a judgment appears on your credit report and you disagree with it, you have the right to dispute the judgment with the credit bureaus. Correcting mistakes on your credit report can help improve your credit score in some situations.
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Instructions
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Get copies of your credit reports. Under qualifying situations, AnnualCreditReport.com offers free credit reports from Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, the three major credit reporting bureaus in the United States. Equifax provides a list of conditions from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under which you can receive a free credit report. If you've already received a free report in the last 12 months or you don't meet the qualifications, you can order a copy of your report for a fee.
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Review the information in your credit report and pay attention to any listed judgments. If you disagree with the data included, you can dispute credit report information with the reporting agency. Most of the agencies accept online dispute requests. Fill out and submit the required form to begin the dispute process. Depending on the agency, you may need a credit report number to identify your record for the company. You can also fill out a dispute form and mail it to the credit reporting agency, or you can phone in a dispute.
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Provide details supporting your claim. At first, this could be a simple sentence written in the provided space on the form. If the credit reporting agency requires more information, you may need to provide documentation supporting your dispute.
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Wait for the credit reporting agency to contact the company reporting the judgment. The agency does not have to remove a judgment it deems as accurate, which means the information will remain on your credit card report. When this happens, you can add a statement to your report indicating your disagreement with the information. While it won't change the information on the credit report, it provides your side of the issue to anyone inspecting your report.
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Be sure to file credit report disputes with each agency on which the judgment occurs. The credit reporting agencies work as individual companies, which means a dispute with TransUnion will have no affect on your credit report from Experian or Equifax.
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Tips & Warnings
You can file more than one dispute with a credit reporting agency at the same time.
You can check the progress of your dispute with the credit reporting agency as you wait for the final decision.
