The FCRA gives you the right to: a free credit report from each bureau annually (via annualcreditreport.com), dispute inaccurate or incomplete information, have inaccurate information corrected or removed within 30 days, know what is in your credit file, and receive notification when information in your file has been used against you (such as when a credit application is denied). The FCRA is enforced by the CFPB and FTC.

Under the FCRA, most negative information must be removed after seven years: late payments, charge-offs, collections, and most civil judgments. Bankruptcies can remain for up to ten years (Chapter 7) or seven years (Chapter 13). Positive accounts can remain indefinitely. If negative information is approaching seven years and has not been removed, or if it was reported inaccurately, you can dispute it with the bureaus.

The credit bureau must investigate your dispute within 30 days (45 days if you submit additional information). They will contact the creditor who reported the item to verify its accuracy. If the creditor cannot verify the information or confirms it is inaccurate, the bureau must correct or delete it. If the bureau upholds the item, you can add a 100-word consumer statement to your report explaining your position.

A goodwill letter asks a creditor to remove an accurate negative item from your credit report as a gesture of goodwill, typically for a one-time late payment with an otherwise good account history. Unlike a dispute (which addresses inaccuracies), a goodwill letter is a request — the creditor is not obliged to comply. They are most effective when you have a long positive account history, the late payment was an isolated incident, and you have since paid the account on time.