A written dispute starts a 30-day clock. Here is how to write one that works.

What the law actually requires

On receiving a written dispute, a consumer reporting agency must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation and resolve it within 30 days. If the disputed item is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified, it must be deleted or corrected.

That is a duty, not a courtesy. The agency does not get to decide whether your objection is reasonable — it has to verify the item or remove it.

Identify the legal defect, not the unfairness

This is where most disputes fail. 'This is holding me back and it was a long time ago' is not a defect. Name the rule the entry breaks.

• §Not my record — a wrong-person match, common with similar names and dates of birth. Documented with identity records.
• §Expunged or sealed — unreportable under § 607(b). Documented with a certified court order.
• §Non-conviction information older than seven years — barred by § 605. Documented with the disposition date.
• §Disposition recorded incorrectly — a dismissal or acquittal reported as a conviction, or a charge reported without its reduction. Documented with a certified disposition.
• §Duplicate entries — the same case reported as multiple offences, which inflates how a record reads.
• §Incomplete — a charge reported with no disposition at all, which cannot be verified and therefore cannot stand.

Writing it

1. 01Write to the agency, not the employerThe agency created the report and carries the statutory duty. Telling the employer is useful separately, but it is not a dispute.
2. 02Quote the entry exactly as it appearsCase number, court, charge, date, as printed. Vagueness gives the agency room to reinvestigate the wrong thing.
3. 03State the defect and cite the sectionOne clear sentence naming which rule the entry breaks. Citing § 607(b), § 605 or § 611 changes how the letter is routed inside the company.
4. 04Attach the document that proves itCertified order, certified disposition, or identity documents. Documentation turns an assertion into a finding the agency has to act on.
5. 05Request written confirmation of deletionAnd request that the corrected report be sent to anyone who received the original in the past two years for employment purposes.
6. 06Send it provablyCertified mail with return receipt, or the agency's own portal with a saved confirmation. The service date is what matters if this becomes a claim.

When a dispute becomes a claim

If an agency verifies an item it cannot actually verify, or keeps reporting a record after you have served a certified order, the FCRA provides statutory damages and attorney's fees. You do not have to prove a specific financial loss for statutory damages.

This is the reason the paper trail matters. What makes a claim viable is documentary proof of what you served and when, and what they did afterwards.