If you find an error on your credit report, you can ask the credit reporting agency to fix the mistake. Texas and federal law require the consumer reporting agency investigate a dispute for free within 30 days of receiving notice of the error. 

After investigating a credit report dispute, the credit reporting agency must:

• provide the results of their investigation to the consumer in writing;
• remove unverified or inaccurate information from the consumer's file, and
• leave the disputed information out of future reports. 

Texas Law

Federal Law

Understanding the Law

Start a Dispute

The three major credit reporting companies allow you to start the dispute process online. Check the company's website for more information about disputing an error as each may have slightly different processes. 

If your dispute is ignored or you disagree with the results, you still have a few options to fix the issue:

• Submit a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). You have the option to submit a complaint to the CFPB about a consumer reporting agency if the agency has not fixed the dispute. The CFPB will give the agency the chance to respond and your complaint will be published anonymously in the CFPB's public Consumer Complaint Database. 
• Add a statement to your credit file. You have the right to add a statement to your credit file and you can ask that the statement be included on your future credit reports. This only applies to disputes you have submitted with the credit reporting agency.
• Dispute the error directly with the business or lender that supplied the information. You can also try disputing the error directly with the business that supplied the information.

If the consumer follows all the dispute procedures with no luck, Texas and federal law provide some enforcement options. The consumer can file a lawsuit against the credit reporting agency or enter arbitration with the agency to resolve the issue.

See Chapter 20, Subchapter D in the Texas Business & Commerce Code and 15 U.S. Code Chapter 41, Subchapter III for details.

Texas & Federal Law

Understanding the Law