How to Write a Dispute Letter to a Credit Bureau
As you work with your clients to repair their credit, you may uncover errors or other anomalies that could be harming your clients’ financial situations. The specific scenarios can vary, but any errors (or suspected errors) are a good reason to write dispute letters to the credit bureaus. These letters ensure the credit bureaus fix or remove errors from your client’s credit report.
Using a credit bureau dispute letter template can save you time and ensure accuracy and confidence in correspondence you send on behalf of your client.
When to write a dispute letter to a credit bureau
As you review credit reports from credit bureaus, you may notice inaccuracies on your clients’ report that could be needlessly harming their current and, potentially, future financial state. These inaccuracies can range from information not deleted in a timely manner to debts your clients have no knowledge of and did not approve themselves.
What do I include in a credit bureau dispute letter?
Client’s information: Remember, you are writing this letter on behalf of your client. The letter’s contents should reflect their information from the first-person perspective (I, my), not yours as the credit repair company
Reason: Include an individual line and detailed description for each disputed item on the report and why your client is disputing it
Copy of client’s credit report: Highlight the errors your client is disputing in a copy of the credit report itself, and send the highlighted report along with your letter
Proof of client ID and residence: If this is the first time you are writing to the specific bureau on behalf of the specific client for the specific item, make sure you include a copy of the client’s government-issued photo ID (like a Driver’s License) and proof of residence (like a utility bill)
Reference relevant laws: Cite relevant legal code from the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which enforces a 30-day deadline on the credit bureau to respond to your dispute letter
Request for removal and notification to creditors: Make your requests to the credit bureau clear, including removal of the disputed item(s), detailed explanations for any items the bureau is not removing, and notifications of the corrected credit profile to creditors as needed
