Last updated 26 September 2026 · Written by Kgothatso Moleke · General information, not financial advice
The short version: disputing an entry on your credit record is free, and the law puts the burden on the other side. The bureau must produce evidence that the entry is correct or remove it, and it has 20 business days to do so. You do not have to prove you are right. They have to prove they are.
That last point is the whole thing, and almost nobody uses it. People assume a dispute means assembling a case. It does not. It means telling the bureau which entry you are challenging and why — and then the obligation shifts to them.
What is worth disputing
- An account that is not yours, or an amount you do not recognise
- An account you settled that still shows a balance or arrears
- An account you closed that still shows as open
- A default, judgment or listing that is past the date it should have fallen away
- The same debt listed twice, usually after it was sold to a collections agency
- A payment marked late that you paid on time
- Personal details that are wrong — an ID number one digit out is how someone else’s accounts end up on your record
- A debt review flag still showing after you completed the process
What is not worth disputing is accurate bad news. If you genuinely missed three payments, that entry is correct and it will stay until it expires. Nobody can remove it, and anyone who offers to is selling you something that does not exist.
How to do it, step by step
1. Dispute with the bureau, not the lender
Go to the bureau that is showing the entry. It is the bureau that carries the legal obligation to investigate, and it is the bureau that must remove the entry if the evidence does not hold up. Phoning the lender first is the most common way people lose weeks.
If the same entry appears on more than one bureau, dispute it at each one separately. They do not share a database, and resolving it at one does not resolve it at the others.
2. Get a reference number immediately
A dispute reference number must be issued to you as soon as you lodge it, whether you do it by phone or in writing. Ask for it and write it down. Without it you have no proof of when the clock started, and the clock is the thing that gives you leverage.
3. Say the right things, and not much else
Put it in writing even if you also phone. Keep it short and factual. Include your full name and ID number, the exact account or reference number as it appears on the report, which bureau report and what date you pulled it, what is wrong stated in one sentence, and what you want done.
Something like: “I dispute the accuracy of account 1234567 listed on my TransUnion report dated 26 September 2026. The account was settled in full on 4 March 2026 and should not reflect a balance. Please investigate in terms of the National Credit Act and provide the evidence supporting this listing, or remove it.”
Attach proof if you have it — a paid-up letter, a settlement confirmation, a bank statement showing the payment. You are not obliged to, but it shortens things considerably. Do not send originals, and do not send documents that are not relevant to the entry you are disputing.
4. Keep a record of everything
Every email, the dispute reference number, the date and time of each call, and the name of whoever you spoke to. This feels excessive right up until the moment a dispute stalls, at which point it is the only thing that gets it moving. Keep the copy of the report you disputed from, too — it is dated evidence of what the record said.
5. Count 20 business days
Business days, not calendar days — so 20 business days is about a month, and longer over the December period. Diarise the date. If nothing has happened by then, you have a specific, documented failure to point at rather than a vague sense of being ignored.
Three things can come back. The entry is removed or corrected. The bureau produces evidence that it is right, in which case you are entitled to see that evidence. Or nothing happens, which is itself an answer.
If they do not fix it
Escalate to the National Financial Ombud Scheme, which now handles the credit bureau complaints the Credit Ombud used to. It is free, it is independent, and bureaus take it seriously in a way they do not always take an individual consumer.
Send them the disputed entry, why you say it is wrong, your reference number, and the record of what you have already done. That last part is why step four matters.
One exception: a debt review flag that is still showing after you finished the process does not go to the Ombud. That one goes to the National Credit Regulator, which handles debt counselling complaints directly.
Three things that trip people up
Paying a disputed debt to make it go away. If the debt is not yours, paying it can be read as acknowledging it, and it does not remove the listing — it changes it to settled. Dispute first, and pay only once you are satisfied it is genuinely yours.
Paying a company to dispute for you. The process is free and the letter is four sentences. Credit repair firms charging a monthly fee are selling you a stamp you can lick yourself. Worse, some dispute everything indiscriminately, including accurate entries, which wastes the bureau’s time and yours and achieves nothing.
Disputing once and assuming it is done. Pull the report again after the dispute closes and confirm the change actually landed. Entries have been known to reappear when a lender re-submits its monthly data file.
Before you dispute anything you need the reports in front of you: how to get all four free, then how to read them and the five errors worth hunting for. Where a dispute is one step in a bigger repair job, the credit repair roadmap sets out the full order.
Sources: National Credit Act 34 of 2005 on consumer rights to challenge credit information; South African Credit and Risk Reporting Association on the bureau dispute process and the 20 business day resolution period; National Financial Ombud Scheme on the bureau’s obligation to produce supporting evidence or remove the entry, and on dispute reference numbers. Debt review flag complaints are handled by the National Credit Regulator.