How to fix a mistake on your credit report

3 min read · 8 steps · Updated 3 October 2026

A wrong entry on your credit report can cost you a loan, a flat, a phone contract or a better interest rate, and you may never be told why. The good news is that credit bureaus and the companies that feed them are obliged to correct mistakes at no charge. The procedure below follows the rules in the United States, where the three big bureaus are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion; the same steps work in most countries with a credit register, including the UK and Germany.

This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Rules differ from country to country, so check with the consumer authority where you live.

Step by step

1. Get your report for free

   In the US, AnnualCreditReport.com gives you a free report from each of the three bureaus, now once a week. In the UK the same three bureaus offer free statutory reports; in Germany ask SCHUFA for the free data copy. Check all bureaus, because an error at one is often missing at the others.

   Done

2. Read it line by line

   Look for accounts you never opened, debts that are paid but shown as open, wrong late payments, someone else's data mixed into your file, and old items that should have dropped off. In the US, correct negative information can stay for seven years and a bankruptcy for ten; anything older should be gone.

   Done

3. Collect your proof

   Gather statements, payment confirmations, closing letters or the police report in the case of identity theft. Make copies. Never send originals.

   Done

4. Write to the credit bureau

   Explain in writing which entries are wrong and why, and ask for them to be removed or corrected. Include your full name and address, a copy of the report with the mistakes circled, and copies of your proof. Send it by tracked post with a receipt, or use the bureau's online dispute form, and keep a copy of everything. Dispute with every bureau that shows the error.

   Done

5. Write to the company that reported it

   Send a second letter to the bank, lender, utility or debt collector that supplied the wrong information. Many have a special dispute address: look on your report or ask them. If they keep reporting the item, they must flag to the bureau that you dispute it.

   Done

6. Wait for the investigation

   In the US the bureau has 30 days to investigate. It forwards your evidence to the company, which must check and reply. If the company finds its data was wrong, it must tell all three bureaus. You get the result in writing and, if anything changed, a free new copy of your report.

   Done

7. Ask for the correction to be passed on

   You can ask the bureau to send the correction to anyone who pulled your report in the past six months, and to employers who saw it in the past two years. That matters if you were turned down for something recently.

   Done

8. If the error stays

   Ask for a statement of dispute, a short note in your own words that goes out with every future report. Then complain to the regulator: in the US the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in the UK the Financial Ombudsman Service, in Germany the data protection authority of the bureau's state.

   Done

Good to know

If the wrong entries come from accounts someone opened in your name, treat it as identity theft first: how to protect yourself from identity theft. In the US, IdentityTheft.gov gives you a recovery plan and letters.

Check your report again a month or two after the correction, because some companies report the old data again by mistake.

How the German system works, including the free data copy: SCHUFA in Germany: what it is and how to get your free report.

Related: how credit cards work and how to pay off debt faster.

In short: Free report from every bureau, circle the errors, written dispute with copies to the bureau and to the company, 30-day investigation, written result and a free corrected report. Still wrong: statement of dispute and a complaint to the regulator.