Is credit repair legal?

Lenders and credit reporting agencies can make mistakes, and those mistakes can affect the information on your credit reports. You have the right to review your reports for accuracy and to dispute information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.

That right remains yours even if you have experienced missed payments, unpaid accounts, collections, repossession, foreclosure or bankruptcy. A difficult financial history does not take away your consumer protections. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you can question how a negative item is reported and request an investigation of its accuracy or completeness.

Credit reporting agencies generally have 30 days from receiving your dispute to complete their reinvestigation, although some circumstances allow up to 45 days. If disputed information is found to be inaccurate, incomplete or cannot be verified, it must be corrected or deleted as appropriate. If the lender cannot verify the disputed information within the applicable investigation period, that can work in your favor. A missing response letter alone does not establish that the information must be deleted.

Removal from a credit report does not, by itself, eliminate the underlying debt. Previously deleted information may also be reinserted if the furnisher certifies that it is complete and accurate; the bureau must notify you within five business days of reinsertion.

For many consumers, improving the information lenders see today is an important immediate goal. Your Credit Path strategy helps you pursue that goal while understanding what a reporting correction or deletion does—and what obligations may remain.

Editorial source, separate from proposed website copy: FCRA §611, 15 U.S.C. §1681i(a)(1), (a)(5): https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/119-124/t15/s1681i/