Your questions about credit disputes, your FCRA rights, and how Restore works.
No. Restore is software — specifically, a letter-generation, deadline-tracking, and escalation-guidance tool. The Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA, 15 U.S.C. §1679 et seq.) defines a credit repair organization as an entity that performs credit repair services on a consumer's behalf. Restore doesn't act on your behalf. Restore generates letter templates that you review, customize if needed, print, sign, and mail yourself. You are exercising your own federal rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The analogy that fits best: TurboTax doesn't file your taxes for you — it helps you understand the tax code and apply it to your situation. Restore does the same thing for the FCRA.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. §1681 et seq.) is the federal law that governs how credit bureaus collect, maintain, and report consumer credit information. Passed by Congress in 1970 and significantly amended since, it is the foundation of your legal rights as a credit consumer. The FCRA gives you the right to dispute inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information on your credit report — and requires bureaus to investigate within 30 days. It also gives you the right to access your credit file, opt out of pre-screened offers, place fraud alerts and security freezes, and block fraudulent accounts if you're a victim of identity theft.
Yes, and we'll always be upfront about that. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the FTC both publish free guidance on how to dispute credit report errors, and the bureaus are legally required to process disputes regardless of how they're submitted. You can write your own letters, mail them yourself, and track your own deadlines with a calendar. Restore saves you significant time, reduces the risk of using ineffective generic language, automatically tracks your 30-day FCRA deadline, and generates your next letter based on each bureau's response. Think of it the way you'd think about tax software: doing your taxes by hand is free and legal — the software just makes it faster, more accurate, and far less frustrating.
No. Disputing inaccurate information on your credit report is a federally protected right — the act of disputing does not negatively impact your credit score. During the reinvestigation period, bureaus may place a "dispute" notation on the account in question, but this notation does not factor into credit score calculations used by FICO or VantageScore models. The practical concern most people have is the opposite: if an item is successfully corrected or removed as a result of reinvestigation, your score may improve. Disputing does not trigger a hard inquiry and does not signal financial distress to lenders.
Under FCRA §1681i, credit bureaus are required to complete their reinvestigation within 30 days of receiving your dispute — or 45 days if you provide additional information after the dispute is initiated. That's the legal minimum timeline for a single round. However, the complete credit improvement process often takes 3 to 6 months, particularly if an item is initially verified by the bureau and you need to escalate — by sending a Method of Verification letter, filing a CFPB complaint, disputing directly with the furnisher, or consulting an FCRA attorney. Restore tracks every deadline and generates each escalation letter automatically, so you always know your next step.
This is a common response — and it is not the end of the road. A "verified" response means the bureau contacted the furnisher and the furnisher confirmed the information. It does not mean the information is correct. You have several legal options at this point, and Restore generates letters for all of them:
Method of Verification (MOV) letter: Under FCRA §1681i(a)(6)(B)(iii), you have the right to request a description of the procedure the bureau used to verify the item.
Direct furnisher dispute: Under FCRA §1681s-2(b), you can dispute the item directly with the furnisher — the original creditor or collection agency — which triggers their own legal obligation to investigate.
CFPB complaint: Filing a complaint at consumerfinance.gov/complaint creates a formal record and requires the bureau or furnisher to respond to a federal regulator.
FCRA attorney: If you have strong evidence that a bureau has failed its reinvestigation obligations, an FCRA attorney can send a demand letter or file suit. Many FCRA attorneys work on contingency — you pay nothing unless they recover damages on your behalf.
Under the FCRA, you have the right to dispute any item that you believe is inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable. Items commonly disputed include: incorrect payment history (shows late for a month you paid on time), wrong account status, incorrect balance or credit limit, accounts that don't belong to you, duplicate tradelines, items past the 7-year reporting limit (10 years for Chapter 7 bankruptcy), medical debt under $500 (per 2024 CFPB rules), and debt in an active dispute status.
What you cannot dispute: accurate information reported correctly, simply because you dislike it. The FCRA gives you the right to dispute inaccuracies — not to erase accurate history. Restore is clear about this distinction in the scanning and letter-generation process.
No — and any service that claims to guarantee score improvements is likely violating federal law. The Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) prohibits credit repair organizations from making guarantees about outcomes they cannot control. What Restore can honestly tell you: when inaccurate items are corrected or removed from your credit report following a successful dispute, your score often improves — because the calculation is now based on more accurate data. The extent of any improvement depends on which items are corrected, what else is on your report, and which scoring model your lender uses.
Restore uses bank-grade encryption for all credit report data: AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit. Your credit report PDFs and the data extracted from them are never sold to third parties, never used to generate offers or advertisements, and never shared with any external party without your explicit consent. We follow the requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Safeguards Rule for the protection of nonpublic personal financial information. Credit report PDF files are automatically and permanently deleted from our servers within 90 days of processing.
Visit annualcreditreport.com — the only website authorized by federal law to provide free credit reports from all three major bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Under current CFPB rules, you are entitled to free weekly credit reports from all three bureaus. Avoid third-party sites that advertise "free credit reports" but require a credit card or subscription — annualcreditreport.com is the only official source.
Disputing is done under the FCRA — it's directed at the credit bureau reporting the item, and it challenges the accuracy of information on your credit report.
Debt validation is done under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. §1692g) — it's directed at a third-party debt collector, and it demands that they prove: (1) the debt is yours, (2) the amount is correct, and (3) they have the legal right to collect it. If a collector cannot validate the debt within 30 days, they must cease collection activity. Restore includes templates for both processes.
Yes, and the rules have changed significantly. The CFPB issued regulations in 2024 that prohibit credit bureaus from including medical debt under $500 in consumer credit reports. Medical collections are also subject to a one-year grace period before they can appear on your report. Restore includes specific dispute templates for medical debt, including templates for items that should have been removed under the new CFPB rules.
Restore Dispute is for active correction: you upload your credit reports, our AI identifies items that may be inaccurate or disputable, you generate personalized FCRA-compliant letters, and you track the 30-day reinvestigation process. Dispute is for people who have identified errors they want to challenge now.
Restore Coach is for ongoing monitoring and strategic improvement: we watch all three bureaus in real time and give you AI-powered coaching on specific actions that may improve your score. Coach is for people who want to actively manage their credit health between dispute rounds, or maintain strong credit after their disputes are resolved.
The All-Access Bundle gives you both in one dashboard, which is the most effective combination.
Yes. Your FCRA rights are federal law — they apply equally in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories. Additionally, several states have enacted credit reporting laws that provide additional protections beyond the federal FCRA — notably California (CCCRAA), New York, Texas, and Florida. Restore's letter templates are designed to work nationally and note where state-specific statutes may provide additional rights or longer dispute timelines.
You can cancel your Restore subscription at any time directly from your account settings — no phone calls, no chat conversations, no retention sequences. Navigate to Account → Billing → Cancel Plan and follow the prompts. Your access continues through the end of your current billing period. For new subscribers, we offer a 7-day money-back guarantee on your first paid month — cancel within 7 days of your first charge and we'll issue a full refund with no questions asked. Refund requests can be submitted through account settings or by emailing support@restore.credit.
Email us at support@restore.credit — we aim to respond within 48 hours.
Start Your Free TrialRestore is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. For legal advice specific to your credit situation, consult a licensed FCRA attorney. Many FCRA attorneys offer free initial consultations and work on contingency.