How to dispute a credit report issue in under 5 min (TransUnion)

Does your credit report contain information you don’t recognize or believe is inaccurate? Mine did.

In my case, I found out TransUnion had an inaccurate lien notice of $123 from five years ago, which I had discovered in 2012 and had the county remove. A document online with the county even shows “removal invalid lien.” However, TransUnion hadn’t gotten that note for some reason, and it was affecting my credit score.

I have yet to find out if the other two credit reporting companies (Equifax and Experian) also have this erroneous lien, but here’s how I initiated a dispute of the issue with TransUnion:

1. Go to https://dispute.transunion.com  NOTE: Use Internet Explorer, I started with Firefox, but nothing happened when I hit “start” on the dispute resolution screen.
2. Register: Hit “register” to create an account. (Enter your basic info and hit continue to hit the next page.)
3. Start Dispute: Once you have an account, you can follow the next step to “initiate a dispute on your credit file,” or you can access the dispute page anytime by going to https://dispute.transunion.com

You’ll then be shown a copy of what TransUnion has on file for your credit report – which is everything EXCEPT for your FICO or credit score (they keep that out and try to upsell you constantly for it on their site).

Find the item your disputing and hit the button right below it that indicates you want to start an investigation/dispute of the item.

Select the reason for why you believe it’s in error. (In my case I selected “Investigate Accuracy: Public record vacated, dismissed, or filed in error. I also selected “Public record is paid, satisfied or released,” just in case. TransUnion also allows you to add a 60-character comment. I have no idea why it’s THAT limited – that’s less than half the length Twitter allows for a Tweet!

After you hit submit, you’ll be taken to a summary page of your dispute request to review before the dispute is sent in to TransUnion for processing. Before this, you can also select other items to dispute and can also add a consumer comment to your credit report record, which is nice – although I don’t know how much it matters to creditors.

That’s it!

What happens after you hit “submit” on your dispute?

Here’s what TransUnion says happens:

1. If you have any documentation to support your dispute claim, you may provide the information to us via mail at: P.O. Box 2000 Chester PA 19016. Please remember to include your File Identification Number on all correspondence to TransUnion.
2. We will send a confirmation e-mail to your registered e-mail address within five business days. After you receive the confirmation e-mail, you can come online to check investigation status at any time.
3. We will change the information or contact the data provider to verify the information you requested to investigate. We will send an investigation resolution notification to your registered e-mail address within thirty days.
4. After you receive the investigation resolution notification, you may log into your account to view the investigation resolution and a corrected copy of your TransUnion Personal Credit Report. You must log in within 30 days of receiving the investigation resolution notification.

*Note: If you need to take up a lien issue with the County, contact the County Clerk-Recorder’s office it’s filed in. You can also search on your county’s website for “lien” and should be able to find dispute methods for your specific county.