What this answers
On this page
After a credit-bureau dispute comes back "verified," you have a statutory right to demand a written description of how the bureau reached that conclusion. Most consumers never use it. Here is how the right actually works under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, plus a template letter you can send.
The Hidden Statutory Right
There is a provision in the Fair Credit Reporting Act that consumer lawyers love and credit-bureau lawyers would rather you ignore. It is part of the reinvestigation section, 15 U.S.C. 1681i, in subsections (a)(6)(B)(iii) and (a)(7). Together those subsections give you the right, after a reinvestigation, to ask the bureau in writing for a description of the procedure it used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the disputed information, including the business name, address, and (if reasonably available) telephone number of any furnisher it contacted.
Here is the part that matters and that almost everyone gets wrong: the "15 days" in the statute is not a deadline for you. It is the deadline for the bureau. Under 1681i(a)(7), once you make the request, the bureau must provide the description to you within 15 days of receiving it. The statute does not impose any deadline on when you have to ask. You can request the description at any reasonable time after the reinvestigation. So do not let a calendar scare you off.
Why This Request Matters
When the bureau sends back a "verified, information accurate as reported" letter, you usually have no idea what it actually did. Did it forward your documents to the furnisher, or just summarize them into a code? Did it contact the furnisher you named or a different one? Did it look at your file at all? A request under 1681i(a)(7) makes the bureau show its work.
- If it describes a real procedure and names the furnisher, the date of contact, and the response, you know exactly what to attack next.
- If it admits it forwarded a two-digit code without your documents, you have a record of a thin reinvestigation.
- If it contacted a furnisher you never named, you have a record of that error.
- If it never reached out at all, you have a record of that too.
And if the bureau ignores the request, that silence can itself be evidence. The statute required a response. A failure to respond is its own potential violation and can support a willfulness theory under 1681n.
Template Letter
Here is a short letter you can adapt. Fill in the bracketed fields, send it certified mail with return receipt requested, and save the green card and the certified-mail receipt.
- Address it to the bureau's dispute mailing address and reference your original dispute date and the date you received the verification letter.
- State: "As permitted by 15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)(6)(B)(iii) and 1681i(a)(7), I request a written description of the procedure you used to determine that the disputed information is accurate and complete, including the business name, address, and (if reasonably available) telephone number of every furnisher you contacted in conducting the reinvestigation."
- Add: "I understand you must provide this description within 15 days of receiving this request. I expect a written response."
- Sign, print your name, and date it.
What Happens Next
Responses vary. Some bureaus send a generic note that the dispute was forwarded to the furnisher, which is often not an adequate description and is worth challenging. Some send a meaningful account naming the furnisher and the contact date. Some do not respond. In all three scenarios, you have created a clean record for your next move.
If the bureau says nothing
Send a second dispute attaching any new documentation you can gather, an identity theft report, additional statements, or a records request to the furnisher, and reference the bureau's failure to provide the description. A new dispute reopens the 30-day reinvestigation clock and adds another layer of evidence.
If the bureau says something specific
If it says it contacted the furnisher and the furnisher confirmed the data, you can press the furnisher directly with a dispute under 1681s-2(a) and, if you are an identity-theft victim, a records request under 1681g(e). When the furnisher's own records do not match what it told the bureau, you may have a case.
Got a "verified" result you do not believe? Talk to our FCRA team about your reinvestigation and your next move.
Why This Letter Works
Most consumer rights ask the other side to do something. This one asks them to explain what they already did, which is a different kind of pressure.
A bureau answering a method of verification request has three options and all of them help you. It can describe a real investigation, in which case you learn what was checked and can attack the substance. It can describe a thin one, in which case the description is evidence about the procedure. Or it can not respond, which is its own failure of a statutory duty.
There is no version where a complete and accurate answer leaves you worse off. That is unusual, and it is why the letter is worth sending every single time a dispute comes back verified.
What to Do With the Answer
Read it for three things.
Who they contacted. The statute requires the business name and address of any furnisher contacted. A response that will not name anyone suggests nobody was contacted.
What they reviewed. An answer that refers only to confirming information with the data furnisher describes a records match, not an investigation. That phrasing is common and it is worth quoting back in your next dispute.
What they did with your documents. If you attached payment records, a police report, or a court order, and the description never mentions them, the description is telling you those documents were not part of the process.
Then send a second dispute that uses the answer. Reference the description, state what it shows was not done, and attach the evidence again. You are now disputing against a written account of the bureau's own procedure rather than against silence.
Common Questions
What is a method of verification letter?
When should I send one?
Whenever a dispute comes back verified and you know the information is still wrong. There is no cost beyond a letter, and the answer is useful whatever it says.
What must the bureau include?
A description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information, including the business name and address of any furnisher it contacted, and the telephone number if reasonably available.
What if the bureau ignores the request?
That is a failure of a specific duty with a specific deadline. Keep the request, the proof of delivery, and a note of the date the 15 days expired, then reference the non response in your next dispute.
Does this restart the 30 day clock?
No. A method of verification request is separate from a reinvestigation. Sending a new dispute afterward, with new information, is what starts a fresh 30 day period.
Can I ask for this on an item I never disputed?
No. The right attaches to information you disputed and the bureau then verified. Dispute first.
Will the bureau charge me for it?
No. The description of the procedure is part of the reinvestigation process and carries no fee, in the same way the reinvestigation itself is free.
Is this the same as asking for my credit file?
No, and the two are worth separating. A file disclosure under § 1681g shows you what the bureau holds and who received a report about you. A method of verification description tells you what the bureau did when you challenged one item in it. Different requests, different sections, both worth sending.