Ask any credit report lawyer and they will say you should definitely dispute mistakes on your credit report, but you should not dispute your credit report online. A lot of people find mistakes and discrepancies on their credit report.
These mistakes can hurt your credit score, which could increase your cost of credit – in the form of a higher interest rate — or cause a credit application to be denied altogether. What that means is that a lower FICO score could end up costing you thousands in extra finance charges!
If you find mistakes on your credit report, you should dispute these inaccuracies at the earliest possible opportunity. However, the best way to report a mistake is the old-fashioned way: send a certified letter!
Can I Dispute My Credit Report Online?
Credit reporting agencies offer the opportunity to dispute credit report information online. Although at first glance, this seems like a convenient, streamlined process, it can actually cause delays and make things worse. Most experienced credit report lawyers advise not to dispute your credit report online because you should have a paper trail!
How to Dispute a Credit Report Online
The major reporting bureaus all offer the opportunity to dispute online. This direct approach, however, is not always the best method. Experts recommend that you should at least duplicate your online dispute efforts by sending a hard copy via certified mail — so that you will have a paper trail proving your attempts to dispute. Also, you will want to provide as much relevant, specific detail as possible.
The best way to correct mistakes on your credit report is to send a hard copy of a letter to the credit bureaus via certified mail. The letter should be very specific and detailed and should include a copy of the credit report with the mistakes highlighted and circled. If possible, find a sample letter to send to the bureaus. Many credit report lawyers provide sample letters for you to send without charging you.
Ask an experienced credit report lawyer and they will tell you not to dispute your credit report online because you may lose time and money. A good credit report lawyer will take steps to set up a lawsuit if a mistake on a credit report is not fixed within 30 days. Credit bureaus are legally required to respond to your dispute within 30 days. If a dispute is made online, without a paper trail, it is difficult to prove that the dispute was sent and received by the credit bureaus.
Why You Should NOT Dispute Your Credit Report Online
There are many disadvantages to disputing errors on your credit report online. First, many individuals are not always sure of what arguments/documentation constitutes a “good” dispute; what will actually be deemed relevant by the credit bureaus. Even for simple disputes, it is always best to send a hard copy of a letter and a credit report with notations pointing out the mistakes. Any letters sent to the bureaus should be sent via certified mail so that you have a record of when you sent the letter and when it was received by the bureaus.
Second, many individuals simply do not know their legal right; in particular which specific laws the credit bureaus might be in violation of should they fail to timely fix your credit. In addition, the individual with incorrect negative information on their credit report may be entitled to damages/financial compensation if they were deemed a riskier borrower.
To put this in simple terms, a lawyer may be able to file a lawsuit if the bureaus don’t fix the mistake. So it’s always best to talk to a lawyer before disputing a mistake on a credit report and make sure that the dispute letter is good enough to lay the foundation for a lawsuit if the mistake is not fixed.
Credit report lawyers recommend sending written disputes to all 3 credit bureaus instead of opting to dispute all 3 credit reports online. Credit bureaus are overwhelmed with online disputes and typically do not take swift action to correct your erroneous credit information or to inform you of all of your legal rights.
Call Our Credit Report Lawyer for a Free Case Evaluation
Having legal representation can both ease and expedite the process. Also, an experienced attorney can help you get fast, corrective action from the credit bureaus. Finally, a credit report dispute lawyer can usually obtain financial compensation for financial damages encountered as a result of incorrect credit report information being reported.
We recommend calling our firm and talking to our credit report lawyers before sending a dispute. We help consumers throughout the entire United States; we spend a lot of our time giving free advice and sample letters to consumers that have mistakes on their credit reports.
Once a dispute is sent to the bureaus, they have 30 days to take corrective action and fix the report and respond to the dispute. We step in when the bureaus fail to take action. We help consumers to get their credit reports fixed. We sue credit report agencies when they make mistakes and ignore dispute letters. Many of these cases result in getting the credit report fixed and getting paid for the time and the headaches that result from a bad credit report.
If you have a mistake on your credit report, call us or contact us online for a free, no-obligation, case evaluation at 818-254-8413. We won’t charge you a single penny for our advice, and we don’t get paid unless you get paid.
