How long does a credit dispute take?

The short answer is about a month. Under Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a credit bureau generally has 30 days from receiving your dispute to investigate it. Three adjustments matter, and paid services rarely explain them.

The full clock

1. 30 days is the standard investigation period, counted from when the bureau receives your dispute.
2. 45 days applies when the dispute is based on a report you obtained through your free annual report entitlement.
3. Plus 15 days if you send additional relevant information during the first 30 days of the investigation. Sending more evidence can help your case, and the trade is a longer wait.
4. 5 business days is the window for the bureau to forward your dispute to the company that reported the item.
5. 5 business days after the investigation ends, the bureau must send you the results, and tell you if the item was corrected or deleted.

If the deadline passes with no answer

Silence past the deadline is itself a problem the law recognizes. Follow up in writing, keep your proof of when you sent the dispute, and escalate to a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov if the bureau does not respond. The free dispute tracker computes the deadline for each dispute you send, in 30 or 45 day form, so the date is never a guess.

Common questions

Does the clock start when I mail the letter or when they receive it?

The investigation period runs from the bureau’s receipt of your dispute. Mail with tracking, or dispute online and save the confirmation, so the start date is provable.

What does the bureau have to do inside the window?

Investigate, forward your dispute and relevant information to the furnisher, review what comes back, and correct or delete information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified.

Run the triage wizard for your exact steps · All answers