Your credit reports show information regarding your place of residence, the method by which you pay your bills, any history of being sued or arrested, or of filing for bankruptcy. Companies that put your credit report together sell the information in it to others who need it to assess your credit applications.

There are three national credit reporting companies. They are Equifax, Experian, and the TransUnion. They are required to give you a free copy of your credit card every year, should you request it. You are also eligible for a free credit report should the company you apply for a loan with denying your application for a loan, employment or insurance because of your credit report. The only criteria is that you ask for the report within 60 days of when you were first denied the loan, insurance or employment. You can ask for a free copy of your credit report if you are unemployed and plan on finding a job within 60 days from when you request for the copy. The two other instances when you can request a free copy of your credit report is when you are on welfare and when information on your report is inaccurate because of identity theft or fraud.

The best way to dispute credit reporting is to immediately contact the credit reporting company and the information provider, the one who gave your credit report information to whoever requested it. This will help you take advantage of every right you have legally in this situation.

The first step you have to take to dispute credit reporting is writing to the dispute credit reporting company in question about the information that is inaccurate. Attach copies of necessary documents with this letter that support your letter and write what you want changed. Ensure you have copies of the letter and the documents you enclosed. The dispute credit reporting company has to investigate your dispute within 30 days and forward all the information you have supplied to the information provider. The information provider, in turn, should investigate your claim and report back to the credit reporting company on results they have come up with. If your claim is correct and there is an error in the report, the information provider must give that in writing to all the three nationwide credit report companies. These, then, correct the information on your credit report. Next, the dispute credit reporting company should inform you in writing about the action they have taken on your report and also send a free copy of your credit report with the changes made on it. The free report they send is not your annual free report. You are entitled to that separately. The dispute credit reporting company should also send you the name, address, and a number of the information provider. Should the issue not be resolved, the credit reporting company must include this dispute in your file and all future reports and provide a copy of the dispute to anyone else who has received a copy of a dispute from you in the past. You may have to pay a fee for this service.

Another less recommended step you can take to dispute credit reporting is to contact the information provider and let them know in writing that you are disputing a certain information on your report. Enclose copies of documents that will support your dispute. If the information provider does not change the information, they are required to inform the credit reporting company about your dispute. If they find the information to be in error, they are required to ask the credit information company to correct said information.

When you dispute credit reporting, ensure you do not make the following errors: dispute only with the lender. It may seem easier to do that, but if the lender does not agree with your dispute, you cannot fight back. You can only sue them, should suing be necessary, if you have disputed the issue with the credit reporting company first; avoid skipping over the terms and conditions of the agreement with the lender. Sometimes the credit reporting company include terms in fine print that can legally force you to give up your right to take your dispute to court. Should the credit reporting company not find any errors; save all the evidence of every dispute you ever made to ensure that you have substantial backing if and when you go to court against the credit reporting company. Ensure your disputes have clear and substantial information in them.