Dispute Resolution Standards

The reinvestigation period begins on the date the CRA receives the dispute rather than the date it is opened, assigned, or classified.

• Complete the reinvestigation within 30 days of receipt. Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(1)(A) sets that period, and it runs from the date the agency receives notice from the consumer or from a reseller.
• Extend to 45 days only when the consumer supplies relevant information during the first 30. Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(1)(B) allows not more than 15 additional days, and only in that circumstance. Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(1)(C) withdraws the extension where the information is found inaccurate or incomplete during the initial period, or where the CRA determines it cannot be verified.
• Record the receipt date on arrival. Every other deadline in the process is calculated from it, and reconstructing it later from a work queue rarely produces the same answer.
• Accept a dispute in whatever form it arrives. The statute prescribes no format, so a consumer who notifies the agency has disputed whether by letter, telephone, portal, or email.
• Treat a dispute received through a reseller as a dispute. Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(1)(A) covers notice given indirectly through a reseller, and the 30 days run from the date the agency receives it.
• Conduct the reinvestigation at no charge to the consumer. The statute states this directly, and a fee of any kind is not available at this stage.
• Terminate only on a reasonable determination that the dispute is frivolous or irrelevant. Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(3) permits termination, including where the consumer has not supplied enough information to investigate. Notice to the consumer is due within 5 business days of the determination, stating the reasons and identifying what information is needed.

Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(2)(A) requires the CRA to notify the party that supplied the disputed item before the end of the 5 business day period that begins on the date the dispute is received.

• Send the notice within 5 business days of receipt. That period runs at the same time as the 30 days rather than in addition to it, so a slow start consumes reinvestigation time.
• Include all relevant information the consumer provided. Supporting documents go with the notice, and FCRA § 1681i(a)(2)(B) requires the CRA to forward relevant information the consumer supplies later in the period as well.
• Identify the actual source of the item. In employment screening the source is frequently a court, a research vendor, or a data provider rather than a creditor, and the notice belongs with whichever party produced the item.
• Send it by the method established with that source. A notice delivered to a general address at a large institution may never reach anyone in a position to act on it.

Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(1)(A) requires a reasonable reinvestigation, and re-reading the existing file to confirm that it still says what it said before does not meet that standard.

• Return to the source. Examine the record at the court or issuing body rather than in the database that produced it, since that database is what generated the item now in dispute.
• Review all relevant information the consumer submitted. Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(4) requires the CRA to consider it, and documents the consumer supplies are frequently the fastest route to the answer.
• Re-examine the identity match rather than only the record. Many disputes concern whose record it is, and confirming that the record exists answers a different question than the one the consumer raised.
• Re-check the applicable reporting limits. A record that was reportable on the date of the search may have passed a federal or state limit since then, and the reinvestigation is where that gets caught.
• Check for a sealing, expungement, or vacated judgment entered after collection. The identity match may be entirely correct while the record has become unreportable or has stopped being the outcome of the case.

A reinvestigation ends in one of three ways, and FCRA § 1681i(a)(5)(A) requires the item to change in two of them.

• Correct or delete an item found inaccurate or incomplete. The statute requires this promptly, based on what the reinvestigation established rather than on what the consumer asserted.
• Delete an item that cannot be verified. Unverifiable is not the same as accurate, and the statute requires deletion when verification fails rather than retention with a qualifier attached.
• Leave a verified item in place and explain the result. A consumer who cannot follow the explanation will dispute again, which costs more than writing it clearly the first time.
• Notify the source of any modification or deletion. Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(5)(A)(ii) requires prompt notice to the party that furnished the item.
• Accept a statement of dispute where the reinvestigation does not resolve the matter. Under FCRA § 1681i(b) the consumer may file a brief statement, which the CRA may limit to 100 words if it helps the consumer write a clear summary. Section FCRA § 1681i(c) requires subsequent reports containing the item to note that it is disputed and to include the statement or an accurate summary of it.

Section FCRA § 1681i(a)(6) requires written notice of the results within 5 business days of completing the reinvestigation.

• State that the reinvestigation is complete. The notice should say so plainly, since the consumer has no other way to know the process has ended.
• Include a consumer report based on the revised file. The consumer should be able to see the result rather than read a description of it.
• Describe the right to add a statement of dispute where the item remains in the file after the reinvestigation.
• Describe the right to request how the reinvestigation was conducted. On request, FCRA § 1681i(a)(7) gives the CRA 15 days to provide a description of the procedure used, including the business name, address, and telephone number of any furnisher contacted, where reasonably available.
• Disclose the right to have prior recipients notified. Under FCRA § 1681i(d), the consumer may ask the CRA to send notice of a deletion, or the statement of dispute, to any person the consumer designates who received a report for employment purposes within the preceding 2 years, or for any other purpose within the preceding 6 months. That right must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously at or before the time the item is deleted or the statement is received.
• Write the notice so the consumer can follow it. A notice that satisfies the statute and confuses its recipient produces the next dispute.

An item deleted after a dispute cannot return to the file without the certification and the notice that FCRA § 1681i(a)(5)(B) requires, and an automated data refresh is the usual way it comes back.

• Reinsert only on the source’s certification that the item is complete and accurate. A record reappearing in a data feed is not a certification, and a system that treats a new match as one will reinsert without anyone deciding to.
• Notify the consumer in writing within 5 business days of reinsertion. The deadline runs from the reinsertion rather than from the discovery of it.
• Identify the source in that notice. Include the business name, address, and telephone number if reasonably available, and restate the consumer’s right to add a statement to the file.
• Maintain procedures that keep deleted items from reappearing. This is a standing obligation on the file rather than a response made one dispute at a time.

Conducting the reinvestigation is half the obligation, and being able to show what was done is the other half.

Record the following for every dispute:

• The date the dispute was received, and the method of receipt
• The item disputed and the information the consumer submitted
• The date the source was notified and what was transmitted
• What was examined, who was contacted, and the response received
• The outcome and the basis for it
• The date results were sent to the consumer, with a copy of the notice

Disputes resolved in favor of the reported item belong in the record alongside the rest. They establish that the reinvestigation took place rather than that no error was ever found.