How to dispute a listing on your credit report

If something on your credit report is wrong, you dispute it directly with the credit bureau that is showing it, and it costs you nothing. Under the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 the bureau must investigate, and the burden falls on the credit provider to show that the information is accurate. If it cannot, the listing must go.

This process handles genuine errors: an account that is not yours, a default you already settled, a judgment that was rescinded, an amount that is wrong, or a duplicate entry from a debt that was sold on. It does not remove correct negative information.

Step 1: Get your actual credit report

You cannot dispute what you have not read. The registered credit bureaus in South Africa include TransUnion, Experian, Compuscan (part of Experian), and XDS. Each holds its own data, so an error on one is not necessarily on the others. You are entitled to one free report per bureau per year, and you will need your ID number to register.

Read every section, not just the score. Look at accounts listed, payment profiles, adverse classifications, court judgments, administration or debt review flags, and enquiries.

Step 2: Write down exactly what is wrong

Be specific. "My score is too low" is not a dispute. "Account number 1234, listed by XYZ Bank, shows a default in March 2023, but the account was settled in January 2023 and I attach the settlement letter" is a dispute.

Common grounds include:

• The account is not yours, including cases of identity theft or a mix-up with a relative with a similar name.
• The debt was paid or settled and the listing was never updated.
• The amount, dates or status are wrong.
• The same debt appears twice because it was sold to a collection agency.
• A judgment appears that was rescinded, abandoned or settled.
• The information is older than the maximum retention period allowed by the National Credit Act regulations.
• A debt review flag remains after your clearance certificate was issued.

Step 3: Lodge the dispute with the bureau

Every registered bureau has a free dispute channel, usually an online form, an email address and a call centre. Lodge it in writing so you have a record. Include:

• your full name and ID number
• the account or reference number of the entry
• exactly what is wrong and what the correct position is
• copies of your supporting documents, such as a settlement letter, paid-up letter, bank statement or court order
• the reference number the bureau gives you

Keep every reference number and the date you lodged.

Step 4: What the bureau must do

The bureau must place a notice on the record showing that the entry is under dispute, and must take the matter up with the credit provider that supplied the information. The credit provider has to produce credible evidence supporting the listing within the period set in the regulations. If it does not, the bureau must remove or correct the entry. The bureau must tell you the outcome.

While a dispute is being investigated, a credit provider assessing you should see that the entry is disputed.

Step 5: If you are not satisfied

If the bureau confirms the listing and you still believe it is wrong, you have free escalation routes.

1. The credit provider's internal complaints process. Banks and large retailers all have one, and it is often the fastest fix when the underlying record was simply never updated.
2. The Credit Ombud, which now forms part of the National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa. It handles disputes between consumers and credit bureaus or credit providers and does not charge consumers.
3. The National Credit Regulator on 0860 627 627. The Regulator supervises bureaus and credit providers and can investigate a complaint.
4. The National Consumer Tribunal, which can hear certain matters referred to it and can order relief where the National Credit Act has been contravened.

Where personal information has been processed unlawfully, for example where a listing arises from identity theft, you can also complain to the Information Regulator under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.

Beware of "credit clearing" and "blacklist removal" offers

Nobody can remove accurate adverse information for a fee. Services that promise to "clear your name" for a payment are usually just lodging the same free dispute you could lodge yourself, and sometimes doing nothing at all. If a listing is correct, the only routes are paying the debt so it can be updated, and waiting out the retention period.

Be equally careful of anyone who asks you to make a payment to a collector to get a listing removed on an old debt. If the debt has prescribed, paying it may revive it. Check the position first with our prescription checker or read how to check if a debt has prescribed.

After a successful dispute

Once the entry is corrected, pull a fresh report from that bureau after a few weeks and check the change reflects. Then check the other bureaus. The same wrong entry is often supplied to more than one bureau, and correcting it at one does not correct it at the others. Lodge separate disputes where needed.

Keep the bureau's written confirmation. If the entry reappears later, that letter is the fastest way to have it taken down again.