Question 1

What is a credit dispute letter?

Accepted Answer

A credit dispute letter is a written request to a credit bureau (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion) asking them to investigate and remove an inaccurate item on your credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives you the right to send these letters and requires the bureau to investigate within 30 days. Dispute Chief drafts the letter for you using the right legal citations; you sign and mail it yourself.

Question 2

How long does credit repair take?

Accepted Answer

Federal law gives credit bureaus 30 days to respond to a dispute, so most rounds take 30–45 days. A typical repair plan involves 2–4 rounds of letters, meaning meaningful score improvement usually takes 90–180 days. Dispute Chief tracks the FCRA 30-day clock for every letter and reminds you when it's time to escalate to a round-2 follow-up.

Question 3

Is credit repair legal?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681) explicitly gives consumers the right to dispute inaccurate items on their credit report. The Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) regulates how companies offering credit-repair services can charge for their work, but the act of disputing inaccurate information is a federally protected right. Dispute Chief is software that helps you exercise that right — you stay in control of every letter and every signature.

Question 4

Will disputing items hurt my credit score?

Accepted Answer

Disputing inaccurate items does NOT hurt your credit score. Filing a dispute is not reported to lenders and doesn't appear on your credit report. If a disputed item is verified as accurate, it stays on the report unchanged; if it's removed or corrected, your score typically goes up. The risk isn't to your score — it's wasting time disputing things that are accurate and verifiable.

Question 5

Can I dispute my credit report myself?

Accepted Answer

Yes — federal law explicitly protects your right to dispute items on your credit report directly with the bureaus, for free, without hiring a credit-repair company. Dispute Chief is built for that path: we generate the same FCRA-compliant letters that paid credit-repair services use, but you keep control of the signing and mailing, you don't pay a percentage of every removal, and you learn the law as you go.

Question 6

What is Metro 2 and why does it matter?

Accepted Answer

Metro 2 is the standardized data format that credit bureaus require lenders to use when reporting account information. When the data they report has internal contradictions — a charge-off date earlier than the account's open date, a balance higher than the original credit limit, mismatched dates across bureaus — that's a Metro 2 violation, and federal law lets you dispute the entry. Dispute Chief automatically scans your report for these violations and surfaces them as your strongest dispute angles.

Question 7

How much does Dispute Chief cost?

Accepted Answer

Dispute Chief Personal is $29/month for individuals fixing their own credit. Dispute Chief Agency is $297/month for credit-repair coaches who want a white-labeled platform for their clients. Both plans include the AI Coach, FCRA deadline tracking, and unlimited letter drafting. Cancel any time.

Fix your credit yourself. We'll walk you through it.

Every issue, in plain English

Letters drafted for you

An AI Coach on every screen

Run a credit-repair practice? You can use this for your clients too.

Not ready to sign up?