Credit Repair Companies Charge $1,000+ for This — Here’s the Exact Letter to the Credit Bureau (Free Report, Ban Period, AFCA Escalation)

The ad promised to “remove defaults, guaranteed”. The consultation was free. The quote was $1,290 up front, more per listing, and a contract you were asked to sign on the spot. What you were buying, when you strip the branding off it, is a letter. A letter to Equifax, Experian or illion under section 20T of the Privacy Act 1988, which the bureau is legally obliged to act on whether it comes from a credit repair company, a financial counsellor, or you.

ASIC, the OAIC and every state consumer body have warned about credit repair operators for the same reason: the bureau cannot lawfully remove an accurate, properly listed default for anyone, at any price, and it cannot lawfully refuse to remove an inaccurate one just because the request came from an individual. The law does not know who typed the letter. Here is what the letter contains.

Your rights

Under Part IIIA of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code 2025:

• Free correction (s 20T). The bureau must take reasonable steps to correct inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading information within 30 days of your request. The Code says in terms that correction requests, and correcting information as a result, must be free for the individual.
• Free report (s 20R, Code para 19). Every 3 months, within 90 days of a credit refusal, and after a correction, the bureau must give you the full file, including derived information and your score, at no charge, within 10 days.
• Fraud ban (s 20K, Code para 17). If you believe on reasonable grounds you are or may be a victim of fraud, the bureau must stop using or disclosing your information for 21 days, extendable, and must note the file immediately. From 1 October 2025 each bureau must also run a ban notification service and, with your consent, pass the ban request to the other bureaus for you.
• Written decision, reasons, complaint avenues (s 20T(4)). A refusal without reasons is itself a breach.
• Notification of recipients (s 20U). Everyone the bureau told gets told about the fix.

Credit reporting is Commonwealth law. Nothing in this post varies by state.

What to do right now

1. Don’t sign the credit repair contract today. Read the cancellation and “success fee” clauses. Many charge whether or not anything comes off.
2. Get your reports from all three bureaus, free. The bureau’s own site, not a “free credit score” aggregator.
3. Sort the entries into accurate and inaccurate. An accurate, lawfully listed default stays for 5 years and no letter changes that; if you paid it, it must show as paid. An inaccurate one comes off.
4. If anything on the file is not yours, ring each bureau today for a ban, then confirm it in the letter.
5. Send the dispute in writing and diarise day 30.

The exact letter

Heading: “Dispute and correction request under s 20T Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) — credit report of [your name] — [report reference]”. Addressed to the bureau’s corrections team; identical copies to the other bureaus carrying the entry.

Part 1: who you are. Name, date of birth, current and relevant former addresses, consent to verify from the attached ID.

Part 2: the entries. A table: number, type, credit provider, date, amount, reference, correction required.

Part 3: the ground, per entry. Never received the s 6Q overdue notice or the s 21D(3) notice of intention to list (Code para 9(3)). Under $150 or not 60 days overdue. Paid before listing, or paid and not updated (s 21E). Not mine (s 20N). Wrong amount or duplicate. Older than the s 20W retention period. Listed during a hardship request (Code para 9(1)). Statute-barred (Code para 20(14): the bureau must destroy the default). Beyond your control: natural disaster, domestic abuse, bank error (Code para 20(12)).

Part 4: the law. s 20S and s 20T, the 30 days, the 5-business-day consultation rule, no wrong door, no fee.

Part 5: the corrections required. Remove and destroy; update to paid; correct the amount; remove the enquiry and any score derived from it. “Paid” is not the correction for a listing that should never have existed.

Part 6: free corrected report and s 20U confirmation, naming the lender that declined you as a recipient to be notified.

Part 7: ban period, where fraud: the s 20K request, the 21 days, the extension, consent for the bureau to pass the ban to the others.

Part 8: escalation. Bureau complaint under s 23A, then AFCA or the OAIC, and responsibility for loss caused by disclosure after the date of the letter.

Attachments: the report page, ID, and the proof for each ground.

What credit repair firms don’t put in writing

Three things. First, the bureau’s obligation is triggered by any correction request; a firm’s letterhead adds nothing the Act recognises. Second, the “removal” outcomes they advertise are almost all the grounds above, which turn on your facts and your evidence, not on the sender. Third, if the bureau refuses, the next step is a free complaint to AFCA or the OAIC, both of which take complaints from individuals every day and neither of which gives a credit repair company any standing you don’t have. The Consumer Action Law Centre and the Financial Rights Legal Centre both publish guidance saying exactly this, and financial counsellors on the National Debt Helpline do the same letter for nothing.

The ban period, properly

If an account or enquiry on your file was opened by someone else, the correction request alone does not stop the next one. A s 20K ban does. Ask each bureau by phone for the initial 21 days, then confirm in writing. Under the 2025 Code the bureau must immediately note the file, explain the effect (you may not be able to get credit during the ban either), tell you about the extension, and pass the request to the other bureaus if you consent. Before the ban ends the bureau must warn you at least 5 business days out (s 20M). Extend it while the police report and the corrections are in progress. Report the identity theft to ReportCyber and IDCARE; both references belong in the letter.

Who to complain to

The bureau (s 23A complaint, 30 days). AFCA: Equifax, Experian and illion are each members, as the Code requires a bureau to be. OAIC: privacy complaint under s 36 after the bureau has had 30 days. ASIC or your state consumer body for misleading claims by a credit repair operator. National Debt Helpline 1800 007 007 for a free financial counsellor; state services include Financial Rights Legal Centre (New South Wales), Consumer Action Law Centre (Victoria), Care Financial Counselling (Australian Capital Territory), Anglicare (Tasmania, the Northern Territory), the Financial Counsellors’ Associations of Queensland and Western Australia, and the South Australia Department of Human Services financial counselling network.

The same letter, without the $1,000 — $49

Claim Done drafts your Credit Report Dispute to Equifax, Experian or illion with every part above: the entries table, the ground and section for each, the 30-day correction request, the free corrected report, the ban period where you need one, and the AFCA/OAIC escalation, ready to send to each bureau.

Send My Credit Dispute — $49 →

You review every word before it’s sent.

For the full process, see how to remove a default from your credit file.