Demonstration site. YourCreditDispute is a sample publisher operated by Gamboa Software LLC, the company behind DisputeValet.com, to show referral partnerships. Articles are general education, not legal advice. Details →
Letters 101

What happens in the 30 days after a dispute

8 min read · General education, not legal advice

Open laptop, a white mug of coffee, a phone and a notepad of handwritten notes with a pen on a wooden desk

You found an error, gathered your documents and sent your dispute to a credit bureau. Now what? For most people the next few weeks are a mystery: the dispute goes in, and eventually a letter comes back. In fact, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) sets out a fairly specific sequence of steps and deadlines. Knowing them helps you track your dispute, spot when something has gone wrong and decide what to do with the result.

This guide walks through the timeline for a dispute sent to Equifax, Experian or TransUnion under FCRA §611 (15 U.S.C. §1681i).

Day 0: the clock starts when the bureau receives your dispute

The 30-day period runs from the date the bureau receives your dispute, not the date you sent it. That is why the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) suggest sending a mailed dispute by certified mail with a return receipt: the receipt shows exactly when it arrived. If you dispute online, save the confirmation page or email and note the date.

Start a simple log on the same day. For each dispute, record:

  • The bureau and the date it received your dispute.
  • Each item you disputed and what you asked for.
  • The date 30 days later, and the date 45 days later, so you know both possible deadlines.
  • Copies of everything you sent.

Within 5 business days: the furnisher is notified

Within five business days of receiving your dispute, the bureau must notify the company that supplied the disputed information, known as the furnisher. That might be your card issuer, a lender, a landlord or a collection agency. The bureau must include all the relevant information it received from you, and if you send more information before the reinvestigation ends, it must pass that along promptly too.

A possible "frivolous" notice

A bureau can decide not to investigate if it reasonably determines that a dispute is frivolous or irrelevant, for example because you did not give enough information to identify the item or the problem. If it makes that decision, it must tell you within five business days of deciding that the dispute is frivolous or irrelevant, explain why and say what information it needs. If you receive a notice like this, it is usually a sign that the dispute needs to be clearer, not that the matter is closed. You can send a new dispute with the missing details.

Days 1 to 30: the investigation

During the investigation, two things happen at once.

The bureau must review and consider all relevant information you submit. This is why clear documents matter. A copy of a bank statement showing a payment cleared on time is far more useful than a general statement that the item is wrong.

The furnisher must investigate too. Under FCRA §623(b) (15 U.S.C. §1681s-2(b)), once a furnisher is notified of a dispute by a bureau, it must conduct an investigation, review the information the bureau sent, and report the results back. If it finds the information was incomplete or inaccurate, it must report that to every nationwide bureau it sent the information to, and it must modify, delete or permanently block the item as appropriate. The furnisher must finish within the same time period the bureau has.

Day 30, or up to day 45

The bureau must finish its reinvestigation within 30 days of receiving your dispute. There are two situations where the limit is 45 days:

  • You sent more information during the investigation. If you provide additional relevant information during the first 30 days, the bureau can extend the period by up to 15 days. This extension does not apply if, within the first 30 days, the bureau has already found the item inaccurate or incomplete, or found that it cannot be verified.
  • Your dispute followed a free annual report. A related section of the FCRA, §612 (15 U.S.C. §1681j), gives bureaus up to 45 days to finish a reinvestigation requested after you obtained your free annual report through the centralized source, AnnualCreditReport.com.

Because of this, it is sensible to note both dates in your log and to treat 45 days as the outer limit if either situation applies to you.

Within 5 business days after it finishes: the results letter

Once the reinvestigation is complete, the bureau has five business days to send you written notice of the results. The FCRA lists what this notice must include:

  • A statement that the reinvestigation is complete.
  • A consumer report based on your file as revised by the reinvestigation.
  • A notice that, if you ask, the bureau will describe the procedure it used to determine whether the information was accurate, including the business name, address and, if reasonably available, the phone number of any furnisher it contacted.
  • A notice that you have the right to add a statement to your file disputing the accuracy or completeness of the information.
  • A notice that you have the right to ask the bureau to tell people who recently received your report about the change.

According to the FTC, if the dispute results in a change to your report, the bureau must give you a free copy of your report, and that copy does not count as your free annual report.

The possible outcomes

The item is deleted

If the information is found inaccurate or incomplete, or cannot be verified, the bureau must promptly delete it or change it. Check your next report to confirm the change was made at every bureau that showed the item.

One thing to know: deleted information can come back, but only under strict conditions. The furnisher has to certify that the information is complete and accurate, and the bureau must tell you in writing within five business days of putting it back, give you the furnisher's contact details and remind you of your right to add a statement. Bureaus must also keep procedures designed to stop deleted information from reappearing. If an item you had removed reappears without that notice, write that down and raise it with the bureau.

The item is corrected

Sometimes the item stays but is updated: a balance is corrected, a late mark is removed from a single month or the account is shown as closed. Check that the correction matches what you asked for.

The item is verified as accurate

If the furnisher confirms the information and the bureau keeps it, the item stays as it is. That is not necessarily the end of the road, as the next section explains.

If you disagree with the result

You have several options, and you can use more than one:

  1. Ask how the information was verified. You can request a description of the procedure the bureau used. It must provide this within 15 days of your request.
  2. Send new information. If you have documents you did not include the first time, a new dispute with that evidence gives the bureau something new to consider.
  3. Dispute directly with the furnisher. The company that supplied the information has its own duties when you dispute with it directly. See our article on bureau vs. furnisher disputes.
  4. Add a statement to your file. If the dispute is not resolved, you can file a brief statement explaining your side. The bureau can limit it to 100 words if it helps you write a clear summary. Unless the dispute was found frivolous or irrelevant, future reports that include the item must note that it is disputed and include your statement or a summary of it.
  5. Submit a complaint to the CFPB. You can file online at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or by phone at (855) 411-2372. The CFPB sends complaints to the company, and it says most companies respond within 15 days.
  6. Contact your state attorney general or a lawyer. The CFPB notes that your state may have additional consumer protections, that time limits apply to lawsuits, and that you may qualify for free legal services in your community.

Ask the bureau to tell others about the change

If an item was deleted or you have added a statement, you can ask the bureau to send notice to anyone who received your report in the past two years for employment purposes, or in the past six months for any other purpose. The FTC notes that a fee may apply when you ask for your statement to be sent to recent recipients. This can matter if you recently applied for a loan, an apartment or a job.

Close the loop

When the results arrive, update your log, file the letter with your copy of the dispute and pull a fresh report a few weeks later to check that the change has stuck. Repeat for each bureau you disputed with. A tidy record makes any follow-up dispute or complaint far easier to write.

Sources