How long a credit report dispute takes and the deadlines agencies work to

If you have spotted something wrong on your credit report and raised a dispute, the answer to how long it takes is: up to 28 days. Lenders and credit reference agencies have up to 28 days to respond to a dispute, and the agency has 28 days from your request to tell you whether it has removed the entry, amended it, or taken no action¹. Experian says it usually resolves issues in less than two weeks¹.

That 28 days is a ceiling, not a promise. Some disputes are settled in days, and some drag on because the agency has to go back to the lender that supplied the information. What you are owed is a decision, in writing, within the deadline, and a route to complain if it does not arrive.

This page covers what happens while a dispute is investigated, why you may need to raise it with more than one agency, what the 28 days covers, and what to do if the deadline passes without an answer.

Credit report disputes: up to 28 days for a response

A credit report dispute is a challenge to something on your file that you believe is wrong: a payment marked late that you made on time, a default you were never notified about, an account that is not yours, or a judgment recorded against the wrong person. You raise it with the credit reference agency showing the entry, or with the lender that supplied it, or both⁶.

The core deadline is 28 days. Lenders and credit reference agencies have up to 28 days to respond to a dispute¹. The agency has 28 days from your request to tell you if it has removed the entry, amended it, or taken no action². Experian's own guidance to consumers says that within 28 days the agency will investigate your request and get back to you⁷.

The clock runs from when the dispute reaches the agency, not from when you post it, so keep a dated record of what you sent and when. If you are disputing a county court judgment that is not yours, the route is to raise it as a dispute with the credit reference agency you got your credit file from⁸.

Different products carry different deadlines, and it is easy to confuse them. Equifax's statutory report terms say that once a dispute has been raised, the company has 21 days to respond to it³. That is the data supplier's deadline in Equifax's process, shorter than the 28 days that applies to the agency's answer to you. If you are dealing with a credit union, its complaints process gives it eight weeks to investigate and give you a final response⁹.

What happens while the credit reference agency investigates

Once a dispute is logged, the agency does not decide the facts itself. It goes back to the lender that reported the entry and asks it to check its records. That is why the timescale depends less on the agency than on how quickly the lender responds and how far back its records go.

While the check is under way, Experian says it will usually add a short note to your credit report explaining that the entry is disputed¹⁰. That note matters: it tells any lender reading your file that the item is in question, so a disputed default is not read as an accepted one.

The entry itself does not disappear while the dispute is open. Most information stays on your report for at least six years, and a default stays on the consumer's credit file for six years¹¹. A dispute changes what the entry says, not how long it stays. If the agency agrees the entry is wrong, it is corrected or removed; if it disagrees, the entry stays and you are told why.

There is a separate, longer-lasting option. A notice of correction is a statement in your own words, up to 200 words, that is added to your report and that lenders must read before making a decision. It does not remove the entry, but it puts your side of the story in front of anyone who looks. Guidance on disputed judgments suggests contacting each of the three credit reference agencies and getting a notice of correction added to your report¹³.

Experian often resolves disputes in under two weeks

The 28 days is the outside limit, and in practice many disputes close sooner. Experian says it usually resolves issues in less than two weeks¹. That is the agency's own account of its typical timescale, not a guaranteed service level, and it depends on the lender answering quickly.

Speed also varies by what you are disputing. A simple factual correction, such as an address or a misspelled name, can be turned around quickly. A disputed default or a judgment takes longer, because the agency has to establish what the lender recorded and when.

One thing that catches people out is how long it takes for a correction to appear. Experian says that because lenders update it at different times, it can take up to eight weeks to see new information on your credit report¹⁴. Its report is refreshed every four to six weeks when it gets updates from companies, and lenders provide information every four to six weeks¹⁵. So even after a dispute is decided in your favour, the change may not show immediately.

If you are checking your file to see whether a correction has landed, it helps to know how often to look. There is no penalty for checking your own report, and doing it regularly is how you catch errors early.

Lenders and agencies share the 28-day deadline

The 28-day figure is not unique to disputes. It runs through the way lenders and agencies are expected to treat consumers, and knowing the pattern helps you spot when a deadline has been missed.

Before a lender registers a default, industry guidance says lenders should notify consumers of their intention to register a default against them at least 28 days before doing so¹². That notice period exists so you have a chance to pay or challenge it before it hits your file. A default is typically recorded when the consumer is between three and six months in arrears¹².

Lenders also have a separate, longer deadline for complaints: by law, your lender has eight weeks to respond to your complaint⁴. That is the deadline that matters if your dispute turns into a formal complaint about the lender rather than a correction request to the agency.

Other deadlines in the same family are worth knowing because they are often confused with the 28 days:

The 12 working days figure applies to requests under sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, where a creditor should send you a copy of your credit agreement within 12 working days¹⁹. If the lender does not respond in that time, it cannot start or continue court action against you to recover the debt until it does¹⁷. That is a different mechanism from a credit report dispute, but it is a common source of confusion when people are trying to fix their file.

Do I need to raise the same dispute with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion separately?

Yes. The three credit reference agencies keep separate files, and a correction at one does not automatically reach the others. If the same wrong entry appears on more than one report, raise a dispute with each agency that shows it.

The agencies also hold information for different lengths of time, which is worth knowing when you are deciding what to challenge. Experian and Equifax hold search entries for 12 months and TransUnion for up to 24 months¹¹. Most other information stays on your report for at least six years¹¹.

You can also go straight to the lender. The lender is the source of the entry and can correct it at its end, and doing both at once often resolves things faster. If you are not sure which agency holds the entry you are disputing, you can check your report with each of them; a statutory report costs no more than £2, and your report should be sent to you within seven working days unless the agency needs you to send proof of your identity and address²³.

When the 28 days pass without an answer

If the deadline passes and you have heard nothing, the first step is to chase the agency in writing and ask for a decision. The agency has 28 days from your request to tell you if it has removed the entry, amended it, or taken no action, so a silent file is a missed deadline, not a neutral outcome².

If chasing does not resolve it, you can complain. A complaint about a bank or lender runs on the eight-week rule: give the bank at least eight weeks to try to resolve your complaint, and the bank should then send a final decision letter telling you how to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service²⁵. The ombudsman is free to consumers and can look at complaints about banking and payments, including how a firm has handled a dispute⁵.

For a dispute about how your personal data has been handled, rather than about the accuracy of an entry, the Information Commissioner's Office is the regulator to approach²³. The ICO also sets out what is fair when debts are recorded: if entries are recorded on your credit file in a way that may look like they are two different debts, or that could make the debt remain on your credit file for longer than six years from the date of the original default, it is unlikely that the ICO would consider this to be fair⁸.

If you disagree with the outcome

A decision you disagree with is not the end of the process. You can ask the agency to look again, complain to the lender, and take the complaint to the ombudsman once the lender has had its eight weeks or has sent a final response⁴.

There are time limits to watch. For some decisions, you will usually be given one month to dispute a decision, so acting promptly matters²⁶. If your dispute concerns a county court judgment, the underlying facts matter too: if you paid the debt relating to the CCJ within 30 days or successfully disputed it, it might not even appear on your credit history at all¹³. A judgment that is paid in full within one calendar month can be removed from the register, while one that is not stays for six years from the date of judgment²⁷.

If the entry is a sold debt showing twice, the fairness rule above is the argument to make. If it is a default you were never told about, the 28-day notice requirement is the point to raise¹². And if the problem is that a lender has been harassing you about a disputed debt, there are rules on that too²⁹.

Free, impartial help is available if the dispute is part of a wider debt problem. MoneyHelper offers guidance on credit files and disputes, and debt advice charities can help you work out what to challenge and in what order. The Financial Ombudsman Service can look at a complaint once the lender has had its chance to answer⁵.