Credit report dispute
Disputing a credit report by mail — and keeping proof the bureau received it
Online dispute forms are fast, shallow and controlled by the bureau. A letter is slower, but it says exactly what you want it to say, carries the documents you choose, and — sent by Certified Mail — creates a delivery record the bureau cannot dispute. When the 30-day clock matters, that record is the whole game.
No letter yet? Answer a few questions and the finished letter appears as you type, here on Piloxa, in a couple of minutes. You read and edit every word, and nothing is mailed until you approve it.
Why paper, and why certified
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a consumer reporting agency that receives a dispute must reinvestigate and record the current status of the disputed information, or delete it, generally within 30 days of receiving the dispute (up to 45 days in limited cases, such as when you send additional information during the period or the dispute follows a free annual report). The clock starts when the bureau receives the dispute. A certified letter with an electronic return receipt documents that date with the Postal Service’s own record and a signature.
A letter also lets you attach exactly what you want considered — an identity-theft report, a paid-in-full letter, a court order, account statements — and describe the problem in your own words rather than in a drop-down menu. Keep an unchanged copy of everything you send. Later, when you compare what you disputed with what the bureau did, the copy is the proof.
What the letter must contain
- Your full name, current address, date of birth, and the last four digits of your Social Security number (so the bureau can locate your file — never the full number in a letter unless the bureau’s own instructions require it).
- A copy of the report page, with each disputed item circled, or the account name and number of each item.
- For each item: what is wrong (not yours, wrong balance, wrong dates, paid, duplicate, past the reporting period) and what you want done (delete or correct).
- Copies of the documents that support you, listed as enclosures.
- A request that the bureau send you the results in writing, a free updated copy of your report, and a description of its reinvestigation procedure.
Sample dispute letter
Sample — one letter per bureau, adapted to that bureau’s file
[Your name]
[Your street address]
[City, State ZIP]
Date of birth: [MM/DD/YYYY] — SSN ending in [last four]
[Date]
[Bureau name]
[Dispute address — see the table below]
Re: Dispute of inaccurate information — report number [number, if you have one]
To whom it may concern:
I am writing to dispute the following information in my credit file. The items I dispute are circled on the enclosed copy of my report.
Item 1: [Creditor name], account ending [last four]. This item is inaccurate because [it is not my account / the balance is wrong / the account was paid in full on date / the dates are wrong / it is more than seven years old]. Enclosed is [document] showing [fact]. Please [delete this item / correct it to show ______].
[Repeat for each item.]
Please reinvestigate these items and delete or correct them within the time the Fair Credit Reporting Act allows. Send me written results of your reinvestigation, a free updated copy of my report, and a description of the procedure you used, including the name and address of any furnisher you contacted.
This letter is sent by USPS Certified Mail with return receipt. I am keeping a copy of this letter and all enclosures.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Enclosures: copy of report with items circled; [documents]
Where to mail it
| Bureau | Dispute mailing address |
|---|---|
| Equifax | Equifax Information Services LLC, P.O. Box 740256, Atlanta, GA 30374-0256 |
| Experian | Experian, P.O. Box 4500, Allen, TX 75013 |
| TransUnion | TransUnion Consumer Solutions, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016-2000 |
These three were last checked on September 22, 2026. The bureaus move them, and none of the three publishes a mailing address on its contact page: the current one is printed on the dispute form you download that day, which is also why the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau declines to print them and sends you to the bureau instead. Take the address from Equifax, Experian or TransUnion on the day you send, and keep a copy of the page you took it from. Which address a credit dispute has to go to covers the second letter, to the business that reported the item, where the address is fixed by regulation.
These are the bureaus’ published consumer-dispute addresses as of September 2026. Bureaus change P.O. Boxes; confirm on the bureau’s own site the day you mail. Certified Mail is delivered to P.O. Boxes and signed for at pickup.
Dispute with the furnisher too
The bank, lender or collector that reported the item (the “furnisher”) has its own duty to investigate a dispute sent directly to it. Send the same letter, adapted, to the furnisher’s address for credit disputes — usually printed on your statement or in its privacy notice — by Certified Mail as well. Two records beat one.
Send this letter from the AI you already use
Create your letter with
- Create your letter with Claude
- Create your letter with ChatGPT
- Create your letter with Gemini
- Create your letter with Grok
Each button opens your assistant with the request already written in, Piloxa and its connector address included, and copies the same words to your clipboard in case the assistant opens with an empty box. Nothing is printed or mailed until you read the review page and pay. How to connect your assistant
Draft the dispute letter with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any assistant that supports custom connectors, then say:
“Prepare this letter for Certified Mail with return receipt.”
Piloxa is the connector the assistant calls. Its address is https://piloxa.com/mcp. The assistant cannot mail anything: it hands you a review link. You open it, read the exact pages that will be printed, check the recipient, see one total, and authorize with your card. Only then does the letter leave. Afterwards the exact document, its fingerprint, the addresses as printed, what you authorized and paid, and the printer’s acceptance stay together as one record on your Piloxa account, ready to download whenever you need it. USPS tracking and the signature are added to that record as they are reported back, and where nothing has come back yet the record says so rather than leaving a blank.
Status, October 2026: Live mailing is open for letters to any US address. You see the exact letter, the recipient and the total before you pay, and nothing is printed or mailed until you authorize it. Questions: support@piloxa.com.
Common questions
Is a mailed dispute better than the online form?
The online form is faster to submit and legally valid. A letter is better when you need to attach documents, explain something a menu cannot express, or prove the date of receipt. Many people do both: file online for speed, mail the certified letter for the record.
How long does the bureau have?
Generally 30 days from receipt, extended to 45 days in limited situations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If the bureau cannot verify the item within that period, it has to delete it.
What if the bureau says the item was “verified”?
Ask for the description of the reinvestigation procedure the Act entitles you to, and dispute again with new evidence if you have it. A pattern of “verified” responses to a documented, provable error is where lawyers who handle credit-reporting cases get involved — and your certified-mail record is the first thing they will ask for.
Should I include my full Social Security number?
Include the last four digits and your date of birth so the bureau can find the file. Send the full number only if the bureau’s current instructions require it, and never by email.
Can I send one letter covering all three bureaus?
No. Each bureau keeps its own file. Send a separate letter to each bureau that shows the error, with that bureau’s report page enclosed.
Primary sources
Legal, bureau-address and postal references last reviewed September 9, 2026. Confirm each bureau’s address before mailing.