You may be initially nervous about writing a credit dispute letter. Of course, you want it to sound professional, but you do not want it to come off as pretentious. By using plain language and being honest, you can easily and quickly whip up a respectable and effective credit dispute letter.

Get the Address for the Complaint Department:

In order to make sure that your letter does not get passed around from department to department, address the letter to the complaint department within the credit bureau that you are contacting. This is a quick and easy way to speed up the process of your letter and your complaint getting addressed by the credit company.

Know the Format for a Business Letter:

There is a formal way to write a business letter. This includes your contact information and date on the upper right hand portion of the letter, the company’s information on the left hand side underneath the lines used for your contact information and the body of the letter following the common phrase “To Whom it May Concern:”. In order to help with this, there are a number of business letter templates online you can locate using your favorite search engine and the phrase “business letter template” or “credit dispute letter template”. Try looking at Microsoft’s® community sample letter at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC300005241033.aspx.

Include a Copy:

Make sure to add a copy of your credit report to your letter packet. Do not include the original credit report because if the mail gets lost, you may not get it back. This will also make sure that the complaint department can see what you are concerned about in the report.

In the Body…:

Don’t be vague in your letter. Make sure that you include the specific concerns that you have. In your packet to the complaint department, make sure to include a copy (NOT THE ORIGINAL) of your credit report. Highlight, circle or otherwise mark the concern that you have on the copy of your credit report so that the complaint department can easily identify and locate your concern on your credit report.