Credit report problem

Something on my credit report is wrong.

Do not begin with a generic dispute. First identify whether this is a factual reporting error, a collection-verification problem, possible identity theft, or the result of a dispute already completed.

Mark the exact item first

Use this page if: an account, balance, status, date, inquiry, collection, or personal detail does not match your records.

Before sending anything

Mark the exact item and compare records

1. Save a dated copy of every report that shows the issue.
2. Mark the company, account, field, date, and value that you believe is inaccurate or unfamiliar.
3. Keep copies of statements, letters, identity-theft records, and delivery confirmations; do not send originals.

Choose the closest match

Which process fits the item?

If two branches apply, start with possible identity theft or a collector’s printed validation deadline. A bureau dispute does not replace those steps.

Mine, but amount wrong

The account is mine, but the limit, balance, status, or payment history is wrong

A card, loan, mortgage, collection, or other account you recognize belongs here when a reported fact is wrong. That includes a paid collection that still shows a balance.

Evidence ·: Mark the error on each report. Add statements, limit or account notices, payment records, settlement confirmation, a zero-balance letter, or another record that shows the correct fact.
Send to ·: Send the dispute to each reporting company showing the error and to the bank, lender, collector, creditor, or other furnisher that supplied it. For the furnisher, use the address on the report or its designated credit-report-dispute address.
Expected result ·: Note the usual investigation deadline. When the result arrives, compare it with the updated report field by field. A correction or deletion is not guaranteed.
If unresolved ·: If the response overlooks your evidence or leaves the result unclear, use the results decoder. You can also consider a CFPB complaint or qualified legal help.

Use the factual-error steps

Personal detail wrong

My name, address, phone number, or employer is wrong

This route covers wrong identifying information, not a dispute over who owns an account. If the detail appears with an unfamiliar account or signs of identity theft, follow the related route as well.

Evidence ·: Save every report that shows the detail. Send copies of the identity or address records the reporting company requests, keep the originals, and redact unrelated information.
Send to ·: Start with each reporting company showing the detail and follow its instructions. Contact a named source when appropriate. Direct-furnisher rules have exceptions for identifying and employer information.
Expected result ·: Read the result and check a fresh report. Confirm that the detail changed and that no unfamiliar account, inquiry, or mixed-file information remains.
If unresolved ·: If the evidence supports a correction but the error remains, use the results route and consider a CFPB complaint or qualified legal help. If someone misused your identity, switch to the identity-theft route.

Use the personal-detail steps

Unknown or mismatched item

The item is unfamiliar, belongs to someone else, is duplicated, or was re-aged

This includes another person’s information in your file, an inaccurate duplicate, a wrong delinquency date, or an account you do not recognize when identity theft does not appear to be the cause.

Evidence ·: Save every report that shows the item, along with account identifiers, earlier reports or statements, and records that establish the correct owner, dates, balance, or single-account history.
Send to ·: Send the dispute to each reporting company showing the item and to the company that furnished it. For the furnisher, use the address on the report or its designated credit-report-dispute address. Verify an unfamiliar collector before sharing sensitive information.
Expected result ·: Compare the result with the updated reports, field by field. Do not judge the outcome only by whether the company name remains.
If unresolved ·: Use the results decoder if the item was verified, left unchanged, deleted, or reinserted. Consider a complaint or legal help if a specific, supported error remains.

Prepare a specific dispute

Possible identity theft

The account or inquiry may be identity theft

Start with the FTC recovery and credit-file blocking process when someone may have used your identity. Do not treat the unfamiliar item only as an ordinary report error.

Evidence ·: Keep the affected reports and account records, your IdentityTheft.gov report and recovery plan, identification, and the records required by the blocking instructions.
Send to ·: Start at IdentityTheft.gov, then follow the recovery plan when contacting the reporting companies and each affected furnisher or business.
Expected result ·: Check whether each company blocked or removed the identity-theft information, then review fresh reports. Keep every confirmation and response.
If unresolved ·: Return to the FTC plan for any unresolved account. Follow its complaint, police-report, or legal-help steps when they apply.

Use the identity-theft route

Collector contacting me now

A collector is contacting me about a debt I paid or do not owe

A collection call or validation notice belongs here. Debt validation and a credit-report dispute are separate. You may need both if the collector also reported a wrong balance or status.

Evidence ·: Keep the validation notice, its printed response date, payment or settlement proof, itemized records, and a dated contact log. Send copies, not originals.
Send to ·: Write to the collector at an independently verified address. If the collector also reported an error, use the reporting-company and furnisher route for that issue.
Expected result ·: Track the collector’s response and any collection pause tied to a timely written dispute separately from the credit-report investigation.
If unresolved ·: Keep proof of delivery. If collection continues improperly or the collector ignores the records, consider a CFPB complaint, a state complaint, or legal help.

Use the collector-contact route

Dispute sent or result received

I already disputed the item or received a response

The company may have corrected, deleted, verified, or left the item unchanged; called the dispute frivolous; never answered; or later reinserted the information. Check what it investigated before sending the same dispute again.

Evidence ·: Keep the original report, your dispute and attachments, proof of delivery, the complete result notice, and the updated report.
Send to ·: Follow up with the reporting company and furnisher named in the result. Identify the field and evidence that remain unresolved.
Expected result ·: Work out what changed, what stayed, whether the response explains the investigation, and whether information later reappeared.
If unresolved ·: Depending on the result, ask for reinvestigation details, add new material evidence, submit a complaint, add a consumer statement, or seek legal help.

Decode the dispute result

Need the definition first? Read what a credit-report dispute does—and what it cannot remove.

Read the definition

Primary sources for these routes

AnnualCreditReport.com — AnnualCreditReport.com
CFPB credit-report dispute guide — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB debt dispute rights — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
IdentityTheft.gov consumer rights — Federal Trade Commission
CFPB credit-dispute results guidance — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Recognized account · inaccurate fact

The account is mine. One of the reported facts is wrong.

Name the account and the exact field. For example: “This is my credit-card account, but the report shows a $2,000 limit. My attached limit-change notice shows $5,000.” Use the same approach for a wrong balance, status, payment history, open or closed date, or responsibility code.

Paid collection example

If a collection you paid still reports a balance, state the reported balance, the correct balance, and the payment record that supports the correction. Payment alone does not require an accurate collection to be deleted. A wrong paid status or balance is a separate reporting error, but disputing it does not promise a credit-score change.

1. Show what is wrong
On each dated report, mark the company, partial account number, incorrect field, reported value, and correct value. Attach copies of statements, account notices, payment records, settlement terms, or other direct support. Keep the originals.
2. Use the right addresses
Dispute with every reporting company showing the error. Send the direct dispute to the furnisher address on the credit report or the address it designates for credit-report disputes. State the correction you want, and keep a copy of the submission and delivery record.
3. Watch the deadlines
A reporting company generally has 30 days to investigate, though some cases can take up to 45 days. A furnisher generally must investigate and respond to a direct dispute within 30 days. None of these deadlines guarantees a correction, deletion, or score change.
4. Check the response
Compare the response and updated report with every field you challenged. If the result is unclear or a supported error remains, follow the result-specific steps before filing a CFPB complaint or seeking qualified legal help.

Prepare both dispute letters Read the investigation result Also a medical collection?

A collector is contacting you too? Preserve the notice’s printed response date and use the collector-contact route in parallel. Debt validation does not replace a dispute about inaccurate credit reporting.

Accuracy-dispute process and limits

CFPB common credit-report errors — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB credit-report dispute guide — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Regulation V direct-dispute rule — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB credit dispute timing — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB guidance on furnisher dispute results — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB accurate negative-information guidance — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Name · address · phone · employer

Correct personal information through the reporting company.

A wrong name, address, telephone number, or employer is not an account error. Regulation V’s direct-furnisher investigation rule has exceptions for identifying and employer information, so the usual two-recipient account process may not apply.

Check what appears with the wrong detail. A misspelling or old address is different from another person’s information in your file. If you also find an unfamiliar account or inquiry, go to “The item is unfamiliar, belongs to someone else, is duplicated, or was re-aged” or “The account or inquiry may be identity theft”.

1. Compare the reports
Save each dated report and mark the wrong detail. Note any unfamiliar account, inquiry, or information that belongs to someone else.
2. Follow the reporting company’s instructions
Dispute with each reporting company showing the error. Send only the identity or address records its instructions request, keep the originals, and redact unrelated sensitive information.
3. Contact the source if needed
If the report or reporting company names the source, follow that source’s correction instructions. Do not submit identifying information as an ordinary direct-furnisher account dispute.
4. Check a fresh report
Read the investigation result, then confirm the change on a new report. If a supported correction remains unresolved, use the results route and consider a CFPB complaint or qualified legal help.

Prepare the reporting-company letter Read the investigation result

Personal-information dispute scope

CFPB common credit-report errors — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB credit-report dispute guide — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Regulation V direct-dispute rule — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Paid or low-balance medical collection

Check four fields before choosing the dispute

Current nationwide-bureau policies exclude paid medical collections and generally limit medical collections to unpaid debt more than 365 days from the date of service and over $500. That policy is not the vacated 2025 federal medical-debt rule, and it does not resolve whether the bill itself is valid.

1. Which report?
Record every bureau showing the item and save a dated copy of each report.
2. Which status?
Compare paid or unpaid status, current balance, original balance, collector, provider, and date of service.
3. What proves the mismatch?
Keep payment confirmation, a zero-balance statement, itemized bills, explanations of benefits, and insurer or provider corrections.
4. Who maintains it?
Dispute the exact inaccurate field with each bureau showing it and with the collector, provider, or other furnisher that supplied it.

Prepare the bureau and furnisher packet Check paid-collection reporting

If the account is not yours, use the identity-theft route instead of describing it only as a paid-status error.

Current federal guidance and rule status

CFPB medical debt reporting guidance — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB medical debt rule status — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Error found during a mortgage application

Run the correction and lender timelines in parallel

A bureau dispute does not automatically pause an application or guarantee a result before closing. Keep the lender informed without describing accurate information as false.

1. Preserve the application record. Save the lender notice, report source, item, application stage, requested-document dates, and any rate-lock or closing dates.
2. Send the specific correction. Use the bureau and furnisher route that matches the error; keep every submission and confirmation.
3. Ask the lender what it can accept. Tell it which item is disputed and ask what documentation, updated report, or lender-specific review process may apply. Do not assume the lender can or must change its decision.
4. Keep both clocks visible. Track bureau responses separately from lender requests and decide with the lender or qualified housing help whether the current application timeline remains realistic.

Open the correction packet Decode a denial notice

Keep the original goal in view

What are you trying to sort out?