When the dispute did not work

"Verified as accurate"

This means the credit bureau contacted the furnisher, the furnisher said the information was right, and the bureau left it in your file. If you know the item is wrong, this is the most significant response you can get — not because it helps you, but because it means the system was told and did not correct the error.

What to do:

• Request the description of the reinvestigation procedure. Section 1681i(a)(6)(B)(iii) provides for "a notice that, if requested by the consumer, a description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information shall be provided to the consumer by the agency, including the business name and address of any furnisher of information contacted in connection with such information and the telephone number of such furnisher, if reasonably available." Section 1681i(a)(7) then requires the agency to provide that description "by not later than 15 days after receiving a request from the consumer for that description." Ask for it in writing. What comes back — or does not — tells you a great deal about whether anything actually happened.
• Dispute again with better evidence. Not the same letter. A new dispute with a document that directly contradicts what the furnisher verified.
• Dispute directly with the furnisher if you have not.How →
• Consider adding a statement of dispute. Section 1681i(b) provides for filing a brief statement setting forth the nature of the dispute when a reinvestigation does not resolve it. It does not fix the item, and it has real downsides, but it is part of the record.

"Frivolous or irrelevant"

Section 1681i(a)(3)(A) allows an agency to terminate a reinvestigation "if the agency reasonably determines that the dispute by the consumer is frivolous or irrelevant, including by reason of a failure by a consumer to provide sufficient information to investigate the disputed information." When it makes that determination it must notify you "not later than 5 business days after making such determination."

Most of the time this is a signal that the dispute was too vague, was missing identity documents, or looked like a mass-produced form letter. Read the notice, supply exactly what it says is missing, and resend. If your dispute was specific, documented, and clearly not frivolous, keep the notice — it may matter later.

No response at all

Check first that they received it: pull the certified mail return receipt or tracking record. If they did receive it and the statutory periods have run, that is a failure to do something the statute requires, and it is worth a lawyer's look.

Deleted, then it came back

This happens when the furnisher keeps reporting the item after the bureau removes it. The FCRA addresses reinsertion of previously deleted information in § 1681i(a)(5)(B), including notice requirements. Pull fresh reports at 60 and 90 days after any deletion, and if the item reappears, save both reports — the one showing it gone and the one showing it back.

Partially fixed

Read the updated tradeline line by line against the old one. A corrected balance that leaves an inaccurate 90-day-late history intact has not fixed the thing that is hurting you. Dispute the remaining inaccuracy specifically, and say in the letter that the earlier dispute produced a partial correction.

When it is worth asking a lawyer

The Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes duties on credit bureaus and on furnishers, and it provides for consumer remedies when those duties are not met. Whether what happened in your case amounts to a violation, and whether it caused you harm the law recognizes, are legal questions that depend on facts and documents.

We cannot answer them, and we will not guess. What we can say is that people generally bring these questions to a lawyer after a documented dispute has failed — which is exactly the record the steps above create.

About the optional attorney review →

Sources

• 15 U.S.C. § 1681i — procedure in case of disputed accuracy, including (a)(3) frivolous or irrelevant disputes, (a)(5)(B) reinsertion, (a)(6)(B) notice of results, and (b) statement of dispute.uscode.house.gov
• 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2 — responsibilities of furnishers.uscode.house.gov

Verified against the primary sources August 4, 2026.