Once you begin the dispute process with your credit reports, where do you go from there? A reader had this question:
I have successfully disputed a few charges on my Experian report. Do I need to dispute the same charges on my other credit reports?
Also, if I cleared a derogatory item at Experian, would that make it easier to clear it at the others? IE – I call Equifax and say “hey, account ###### was cleared at Experian for reason blah blah” – would that be sufficient, do you think?
Thanks for your question!
Disputing an item, and having it removed at one credit bureau does not automatically remove the items at the other two main credit bureaus.
For each account that you want to dispute, you will need to go through the process at all three credit bureaus. You can do that easily (and for free!) by signing up for an account with each of the three main credit bureaus:
You can also begin the process by visiting Annual Credit Report.com. However, Annual Credit Report will just make you create logins for the three credit bureaus individually, so it ends up being just an extra step.
If all you need is to see your current credit report, then Annual Credit Report is your best bet. If you know you want to dispute charges, then go ahead and set up the individual accounts. Make sure you write the login information down somewhere too.
Disputing items on your credit report is going to be an ongoing process for a while. You will need to sign in and dispute, then log back in and make sure that the items have been removed, then dispute a few more items if you need to, etc.
Be careful of disputing too many accounts at once. If you dispute a large number of accounts on your credit report, your credit score will be temporarily frozen until the disputes are resolved. This is also why I say that it’s an ongoing process.
Pick one or two accounts at each credit bureaus, dispute, resolve, repeat.
Once you finish with one credit report, like our reader, you will want to move on to the next two credit bureaus and do the same thing.
Now, to answer the second part of the question,”If you have an item removed at one credit bureau, will it be easier to get it removed at the other two?”
Unfortunately, the three credit bureaus really do not work together. Having an item removed at one bureau means nothing to the other two bureaus. Not only do they not automatically update, it won’t matter to the folks at TransUnion that you had something removed at Experian. This is because they are two completely separate entities.
A note about the dispute process:
When you dispute an item on your credit report, by law the credit bureaus have to get in touch with the business that is reporting the disputed account. That business then has 30 days to validate the debt. If they do not validate the debt, then it will be automatically removed off of your credit report.
This is the reason many people are able to have old, (but correct) items removed off of their credit report.
Most companies will not take the time to validate a very old debt – especially if they have already sold the account to collections, of if it was a one-time late payment, etc.
That means that you and I really do have a lot of say over what goes in to our credit reports, and our credit scores.
Our credit reports are not at all like report cards – they aren’t written in stone, and kept in a permanent file forever. Instead they are mobile records, things fall off of them after 7-10 years, and you can pretty much edit them as you see fit.
If you’ve had credit problems in the past, (or even the odd late payment here or there) the very best thing you can do for yourself is to clean up your credit report.
It takes time, it takes effort, but disputing the negative items on your credit report can save you thousands of dollars throughout your lifetime – better interest rates on loans, for some, just being able to get a loan.
The very best thing you can do for yourself is to make maintaining your credit reports a lifelong monthly habit. It takes very little time to do, and you will never have to pay more for a loan than absolutely necessary.
For more information on how to dispute the negative accounts on your credit reports, you can read our step-by-step walk-through.
Thanks for your question!
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