How to Dispute Your Transunion Credit Report

Cleaning Up Your Transunion Credit Bureau Report

Step 1 - Get a copy of your Transunion Credit Report and look for errors, inaccurate items, undesirable information and/or information that is misleading. Damaging credit items include: charge offs, judgments, bankruptcy, included in bankruptcy, foreclosure, repossessions, wage garnishment, 30, 60, 90, or 120 day late payments, collections, paid collections, settled accounts, public record, or any other information that indicates a late or delinquent payment. Transunion keeps bankruptcy and judgments on your Transunion credit report for ten years. Other negative items remain on a transunion credit bureau report for seven years.

Below is an example of a Transunion dispute that worked. Here, Transunion deleted credit card items in collection.

Successful Transunion Dispute - two charge offs corrected/deleted

Step 2 - Write a letter to transunion challenging the derogatory credit information -(here you can create a custom dispute letter at no cost) - Transunion requires that you include name of the items you are challenging. They may also demand that you indicate why the information is wrong. For example, "I am disputing the NCO Collection Account because I never paid late..."

Step 3 - Mail your Transunion Dispute Letter and Wait 30-45 days for the Results -The mailing address for disputes at Transunion is:

Transunion should investigate the dispute - including creditor verification - and then send you a letter with the results. They will usually also send you an updated copy of your Transunion credit report. The updated copy should reflect any changes (if any) they madeas the result of your dispute.

Possible Outcomes of Your Transunion Dispute

Ideally your goal is to remove any trace of derogatory payment information including charge offs and collections from your credit report. However, Transunion may simply update the bad credit item.

More specifically, Transunion will respond in four possible ways to your dispute:

1. Deleted - this means that Transunion deleted the disputed item. This is the best result.
2. Updated - Transunion may make changes to the information associated with the disputed item such as balance owed, date of most recent activity, etc. For example, Transunion may simply leave the derogatory payment information, but now indicate that you disagree with the accuracy of the item.
3. Remains - this is an outcome you should avoid because it means that the damaging item[s] will stay on your Transunion Credit Report with no change. Plus, it may act like double jeopardy preventing you from challenging the same item again!
4. Nothing Happens - Finally, Transunion may simply ignore your dispute altogether. Transunion may have a legitimate reason for ignoring your dispute such as:

• Transunion recently and already completed an investigation into the same disputed information.
• You failed to provide proper identification along with your dispute, e.g. copy of your driver's license.
• You failed to properly support your dispute. You should tell Transunion why you contest the item, e.g. the account does not belong to you, the account is out of date, you always paid on time, etc.

If you believe that Transunion ignored your dispute because of a simple mistake on your part, simply re-send your original dispute letter. You may want to request an expedited investigation in light of the delay.

On the other hand, some consumers have complained that Transunion ignored their dispute for no apparent reason. Below are some tips on how to dispute your Transunion credit report and remove bad credit information.

Tips for Disputing Bad Credit with Transunion Credit Bureau

Follow these instructions in order to get the best results when you challenge bad credit with Transunion:

• Always dispute bad credit by mail - using the mail creates a "paper trail" and thus makes it harder for the Transunion credit reporting agency to ignore your request.
• Limit the amount of information in each transunion dispute letter - challenge no more than 3-4 items in a single dispute letter. Experts claim that disputing more than four items suggests your are engaging in fraudulent credit repair tactics.
• Write a Clear and Concise Dispute Letter - your dispute letter should clearly indicate the negative information along with the precise reasons that the information should be removed from your credit report, e.g. "this is not my account," "the information is out of date..."
  
  
  FREE Credit Repair Dispute Letter

What to Do if You Lose a Dispute with Transunion

If you lost your dispute and still have bad credit on your report, DON'T PANIC! There are still remedies available to you. Damaging credit information that "sticks" to your report can be extremely frustrating - especially if you are on a deadline to close on a house, get approved for a new car loan, etc.

However, there are some alternatives for getting a clean Transunion credit record. These include Debt Validation, escalated dispute/information requests, and creditor direct interventions.

These methods are somewhat complicated and are best if executed by a professional. For best results, we recommend The Lexington Law Firm.

Lexington Law has experience deleting negative credit items including: bankruptcy, included in bankruptcy, charge offs, collections, judgments, public record, settled accounts, collections, paid collections, credit inquiries, repossession, garnishment, foreclosure, late payments, liens, and other undesirable items.

Start Repairing Your Credit Today - Visit Lexington Law!