Removing a Disputed Status From Your Credit Report

August 24, 2010

With the new credit guidelines, FNMA is rejecting any loan file where the borrower’s credit report contains a disputed tradeline or when a tradeline is even tagged with the word “dispute”.  This is becoming pretty common, and we wanted to provide a guide on how to remove the disputed tradelines from your credit report.

There are two main instances when you will have a dispute status on your credit report.  The first is if you (the consumer) initiated the original dispute directly with the creditor.  If this is the case in your situation, you may contact the creditor and request that their dispute be revoked and that each of the bureaus be updated immediately (usually done through the creditor’s online system).  Depending on the individual creditor’s policies, this may or may not happen that quickly and easily, but it could be the quickest way to get the dispute status removed and reported to all three bureaus.  Again, this would only be an option if the dispute was originally initiated with the creditor, not the credit bureau.

If you initiated the original dispute with the credit bureaus directly through their online interface, the fix is not the same.  If this is the case, you should now be able to contact each bureau online or by phone to request that the disputed status of a specific tradeline be removed.  You have 30 days to initiate such an action online from the date you access your credit file. 

If you do not recall how the dispute was initiated but you still would like to revoke the dispute with the bureaus directly, then you should access your file free from www.annualcreditreport.com or the bureau’s website and proceed with disputing the ‘disputed’ status of the tradeline(s).  This may include contacting the bureau’s consumer assistance center at the number displayed on their bureau report.

Here is a sample dispute letter that you can use as a template for requesting a disputed status on a tradeline be removed:

Re: Revoking disputed status on accounts

To Whom It May Concern:

I am currently in the process of obtaining a home loan and have recently been made aware of accounts on my credit bureau file that are currently in a disputed status.  This is causing a delay in the underwriting of my loan and I wish to have the disputed status removed on the following tradelines:

Account Name:

Account Number:

I appreciate the timely fulfillment of this request as the status of my home loan trasaction is contingent upon removal of this disputed status.

Sincerely,

_______________________

Your Name

Posted in Borrower Resources, Your Credit