Dispute letters are handy ways to keep your credit report cleaned up and free of costly errors, outdated entries, and incorrect information about your past credit use.

You have the right to review your credit report free, and you have the right to get errors removed so that they don't lower your credit score.

When writing a dispute letter to fix your credit, remember to always keep copies so you have proof that you've written them. Many credit experts recommend faxing the original, then mailing the copy to address of the creditor or credit bureau you are having a dispute with.

Although there are new online methods of disputing errors in your credit report, the original old-fashion dispute letter will always have a place in getting better credit!

The Federal Trade Commission offers this advice on how to dispute inaccurate, outdated, or erroneous information:

Tell the consumer reporting company, in writing, what information you think is inaccurate. Include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. In addition to providing your complete name and address, your letter should clearly identify each item in your report you dispute, state the facts and explain why you dispute the information, and request that it be removed or corrected. You may want to enclose a copy of your report with the items in question circled. Send your letter by certified mail, “return receipt requested,” so you can document what the consumer reporting company received. Keep copies of your dispute letter and enclosures. Consumer reporting companies must investigate the items in question — usually within 30 days — unless they consider your dispute frivolous. They also must forward all the relevant data you provide about the inaccuracy to the organization that provided the information. After the information provider receives notice of a dispute from the consumer reporting company, it must investigate, review the relevant information, and report the results back to the consumer reporting company. If the information provider finds the disputed information is inaccurate, it must notify all three nationwide consumer reporting companies so they can correct the information in your file. When the investigation is complete, the consumer reporting company must give you the results in writing and a free copy of your report if the dispute results in a change. If an item is changed or deleted, the consumer reporting company cannot put the disputed information back in your file unless the information provider verifies that it is accurate and complete. The consumer reporting company also must send you written notice that includes the name, address, and phone number of the information provider. If you request, the consumer reporting company must send notices of any correction to anyone who received your report in the past six months. You can have a corrected copy of your report sent to anyone who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes. If an investigation doesn’t resolve your dispute with the consumer reporting company, you can ask that a statement of the dispute be included in your file and in future reports. You also can ask the consumer reporting company to provide your statement to anyone who received a copy of your report in the recent past. (You can expect to pay a fee for this service.) Tell the creditor or other information provider, in writing, that you dispute an item. Be sure to include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. Many providers specify an address for disputes. If the provider reports the item to a consumer reporting company, it must include a notice of your dispute. And if you are correct – that is, if the information is found to be inaccurate – the information provider may not report it again.

Here are a variety of quality websites we've found that offer free sample dispute letters and credit dispute letter formats you can copy and use yourself to challenge derogatory info that you find in your credit report:
www.findhow2.com/repair-credit.html
www.debt-n-credit-letters.com
www.creditrepair.com/credit/credit-report-dispute-letter.html
www.privacyrights.org/Letters/credit1.htm
www.truecredit.com/help/learnCenter/disputing/sampleLetter.jsp
www.cardratings.com/creditcardformletters.html
www.fair-debt-collection.com/Disputing_Collections/initial-dispute-letter.html
www.fair-debt-collection.com/Disputing_Collections/follow-up-dispute.html
www.bad-credit-advisor.com/credit-report-dispute-letters.html
www.debt-n-credit-letters.com/Report-Dispute/credit-report-dispute-letter-1.html
www.creditinfocenter.com/forms/
www.eloan.com/s/show/cr-contact
www.squidoo.com/disputeletter
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_write_a_credit_dispute_letter
http://business.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Credit_Dispute_Letter
www.debthelp.com/kc/48-sample-credit-report-dispute-letter.html

For more information, read "How you can dispute credit report errors" here at FindHow2.com.