What Is a 609 Dispute Letter?

What Are Your Rights Under Section 609?

The unofficial names for credit data disclosure requests are derived from Section 609 of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the regulation that governs the national credit bureaus and your rights concerning the credit data the bureaus compile.

Section 609 of the FCRA specifically requires each credit bureau to furnish you with the following upon request (with limited exceptions):

• All information on file upon which they base your credit report
• Details on who supplied that data and how to contact them
• A list of individuals or companies furnished your credit report for purposes of a credit check or other authorized use
• A summary of your rights with respect to the data that's being disclosed, including your right to dispute any information you consider inaccurate

This section of the FCRA solely controls your right to receive copies of your credit report and any information contained in those reports. While you can use this information to identify potentially inaccurate information, your right to dispute that information is instead found in Section 611 of the FCRA.

How to Dispute Errors on Your Credit Report

While full disclosure of the source information behind your credit reports is always your right, reviewing the reports themselves is typically sufficient to spot potential inaccuracies that could be hurting your credit scores. If missed payments, accounts in collections or other negative entries are misattributed to you in your credit report, contact information for the sources of those entries will appear in your report.

No matter how you receive information about potential inaccuracies in your credit report, exercising your right to dispute them is easy:

1. First, get copies of your credit reports. You can download a free credit report from each credit bureau once per week at AnnualCreditReport.com. You can also get a free credit report from Experian anytime.
2. Review each report carefully, noting any late payments, charge-offs or collection accounts you believe may be listed in error.
3. If you find information you deem incorrect, you have the right to file a formal dispute. All three credit bureaus accept dispute submissions online, by phone or by mail.
4. Federal law requires credit bureaus to complete an investigation within 30 days of receiving your dispute, with provisions for extending the time limit to 45 days if additional information is needed from you. They must report their findings to you within five business days after completing their investigation.
5. If you disagree with their findings—for example, if a creditor confirms the disputed entry is accurate—you can re-submit your dispute with additional supporting documentation.

Learn more: How to Dispute Credit Report Information

How to Repair Your Credit

Disputing inaccurate negative entries on your credit reports could help improve your credit scores, but since inaccuracies are relatively rare, you may also want to consider other steps that can help improve credit scores, including:

• Pay up past-due accounts. If you're late on a debt payment but not yet 30 days past due, paying it right away can help avoid harm to your credit score. Payment history is responsible for about 35% of your FICO^® Score^☉, and is the factor that affects credit scores the most. Just one delinquent payment—30 days or more overdue—can do significant damage to your scores.
• Use autopay. Automatic payments can be a great way to make sure your accounts never go past due. You can set them up with most lenders via the app or web dashboard you use to make electronic payments. Take care that there's enough money in your account to cover all your autopayments, or you may be subject to penalties from both your creditor and your financial institution.
• Avoid high credit card balances. Your credit utilization rate, responsible for about 30% of your FICO^® Score, measures how much of your available revolving credit you're using, mainly on credit cards. If your per-card or overall utilization rate exceeds about 30%, it can hurt your credit scores. Individuals with outstanding credit tend to keep utilization below 10%, and lower utilization rates are even better.
• Seek new credit only as needed. When you apply for a new loan, credit card or other form of personal credit, the lender typically checks your credit report. This is recorded on your credit report as a hard inquiry, which can temporarily lower your credit scores by a few points. Minimize the impacts of these inquiries by only applying for new credit when you truly need it.
• Think twice before closing unused credit accounts. It's generally a good idea to keep unused credit cards open, even if you don't plan to use them often. Closing a credit card can negatively affect credit scores by reducing your available credit and, if you have balances on other cards, increasing your overall credit utilization rate.
• Consider credit counseling. If debt has you overwhelmed or just in need of guidance, a nonprofit credit counseling agency can help you get your credit back on track and keep it there. Credit counselors (in contrast to for-profit credit repair outfits, which can actually increase your outstanding debt) review your finances and can assist with budgeting, money management and strategies for paying down debt. The National Foundation for Credit Counseling and the Financial Counseling Association of America maintain lists that can help you find certified credit counselors near you.

The Bottom Line

Section 609 of the FCRA ensures your right to the information in your credit report, to know the sources of that information and to know who's reviewed your credit reports. Exercising that right with an information request can help pinpoint the origins of inaccuracies in your credit report so you can exercise your right to dispute them. A "609 letter" is not a dispute in itself, however, and no "609 dispute letter" template you can buy will force removal of information from your credit report.