Credit dispute guides
What the Fair Credit Reporting Act obliges a credit bureau to do when you dispute an item — the Section 611 process, the 30-day investigation window, and what each kind of negative item involves. These guides describe a process you have the right to use yourself, directly with the bureaus, free of charge, with or without Loosn. No outcome is promised. Only the credit bureau or the furnisher can change what appears on your credit report. Accurate negative information can legally remain on your report — a dispute is not a way to remove accurate items.
Your rights under the law
What the Fair Credit Reporting Act obliges a credit bureau to do, cited section by section. Start here if you want to know what the process owes you before deciding what to dispute.
What changed
Questions whose correct answer moved recently — a rule struck down, a scoring model cleared for mortgages, a new kind of lender starting to report. Each page carries the date of the development and links to the document that records it.
- What changed
Is medical debt still on your credit report?
The federal ban was struck down before it applied. What actually keeps medical collections off a report now, and what remains disputable.
Read the guide → - What changed
Which credit score do mortgage lenders use in 2026?
Classic FICO, VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T — what FHFA and HUD announced in April 2026, and why it does not change what you can dispute.
Read the guide → - What changed
Does Buy Now, Pay Later show up on your credit report?
Which BNPL lenders furnish data, how a plan appears once it does, and why a BNPL tradeline is disputed like any other.
Read the guide → - What changed
Why would a credit bureau call your dispute frivolous?
What Section 611(a)(3) permits, the five-business-day notice it obliges, and why claims that a letter cannot be auto-rejected are not supported by the statute.
Read the guide → - What changed
How do you get your credit reports for free, and how often?
Where the free reports come from, how often you can pull each one, and what a bureau may charge beyond the free entitlements.
Read the guide →
By credit bureau
Each bureau runs disputes through the same FCRA process but asks for different things and publishes a different mailing address. Start here if you know which report the item is on.
- Bureau
How to dispute an item on Equifax (the FCRA Section 611 process)
Where Equifax disputes go, what Section 611 puts them on the clock for, and what to include so the investigation has something to work from.
Read the guide → - Bureau
How to dispute an item on Experian (the FCRA Section 611 process)
How Experian takes disputes, what the 30-day window covers, and what a method-of-verification request is for.
Read the guide → - Bureau
How to dispute an item on TransUnion (and why round two matters here)
TransUnion's process, and why a second round asks a different question than the first.
Read the guide →
By item type
Collections, charge-offs and late payments rest on different records, so each one puts a different question to the furnisher. Start here if you know what the item is.
- Item type
How to remove a collection from your credit report
What a collection account records, what the furnisher has to be able to substantiate, and what the FCRA lets you ask for.
Read the guide → - Item type
How to remove a charge-off from your credit report
What a charge-off records, how long it can be reported, and which reported fields are worth putting to the bureau.
Read the guide → - Item type
How to remove late payments from your credit report
The difference between a goodwill request and an FCRA dispute, and when each one applies.
Read the guide →