What is a Consumer Statement and Should I Have One?

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What happens after you file a credit report dispute? Equifax will review the provided information, and if the investigation by Equifax finds that the information on your Equifax credit report needs to be updated, Equifax will update it. You can also contact the creditor or lender that reported the information to Equifax and dispute with them directly. [Duration - 0:47]

A Consumer Statement is an optional statement of up to 475 characters that you can add to your Equifax credit report. The Consumer Statement can be added to explain a disagreement with the outcome of a dispute investigation or provide additional information about items on your Equifax credit report. Potential lenders and creditors will see your Consumer Statement when they view your Equifax credit report. A Consumer Statement will not change accurately reported information and is unlikely to impact your credit scores; however, providing details for a lender or creditor to see may help them better evaluate your credit behavior.

There are several reasons you may want to add a Consumer Statement to your credit file:

  1. To explain negative, yet accurate, information on a particular account or multiple accounts. For example, if you lost your job or were out of work due to an illness or injury and did not make regular payments on some of your credit card accounts or loans, you might add a Consumer Statement to explain, “I was unable to work from March to December. When I got a new job, I started making regular payments.”

    Note: You should never include personal or medical details into your Consumer Statement because anyone who accesses your Equifax consumer report can see your Consumer Statement.
  2. If you disputed information on your Equifax credit report and disagree with the outcome of the dispute investigation. You have the right to add a Consumer Statement describing your dispute or explaining your point of view. For example, if you disputed a late payment on your credit report, but the creditor confirmed the late payment information causing the late payment to remain on your Equifax credit report, you could add a Consumer Statement to explain why you disagree with the creditor.

You can add, edit or delete a Consumer Statement on your Equifax credit report at any time, and remove it at any time by calling us at (866) 349-5191 or mailing a written request to the following address:

Equifax Information Services LLC
PO Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374-0256

When the Consumer Statement is removed from your Equifax credit report it will no longer be seen by lenders or creditors.

Adding a Consumer Statement to your Equifax credit report does not add it to your credit reports with the other nationwide consumer reporting agencies, TransUnion or Experian, or any other consumer reporting agency. If you want to add a Consumer Statement to those credit reports, you'll need to contact them separately. Don’t forget, you won't always find the same information on your credit reports at all three nationwide consumer reporting agencies because creditors or lenders may not report to all three of them.

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