Step 1: Enroll with Goat Monitoring
Your membership starts at goatmonitoring.com, not on DisputeGoat. Goat Monitoring provides 3-bureau credit monitoring with VantageScore 3.0® scores. It is your only subscription, and DisputeGoat is included with it.
Enrollment, identity verification and billing all happen on Goat Monitoring. That is where you enter sensitive identity and payment details. DisputeGoat does not store your SSN or payment information.
Goat Monitoring's enrollment page shows the price and plan and links to its privacy policy and terms before you continue. Read them there.
If you already have a Goat Monitoring membership, skip this step and go straight to creating your DisputeGoat account.
You do: enroll, verify your identity and choose to be billed.
DisputeGoat does: links you to Goat Monitoring's enrollment page. DisputeGoat does not store your SSN or payment information.
Step 2: Create your DisputeGoat account
Next, create a DisputeGoat account with your email address, or sign in if you already have one. This account is separate from your Goat Monitoring login, and it is included with your membership.
Your DisputeGoat account holds your letter and tracker records. DisputeGoat saves a backup of them to your account.
The signup page lists the three steps in order and marks them done as your account and connection are set up. If you leave partway through, sign in and come back to the same page. It shows where your connection stands.
You do: create the account and keep your sign-in details.
DisputeGoat does: stores your account, your letters and your tracker records. See the privacy policy for what is kept and how to ask for deletion.
Step 3: Connect your accounts
Once you are signed in, enter your Goat Monitoring email and password in DisputeGoat. This link is what lets your 3-bureau report sync into your dashboard.
Your password is not stored. DisputeGoat uses it once to create a one-way code, keeps only that code, and uses the code only to sync your report. Unlinking deletes the code.
After you link, DisputeGoat verifies the connection. Your report appears after the connection is verified and the first sync completes.
If the login does not verify, you will see a message asking you to check it. After three tries that do not verify, you reset your Goat Monitoring password, unlink, and link again. If your membership is inactive or a payment was declined, sort that out on Goat Monitoring first.
You can unlink at any time. Unlinking stops future syncing. It does not cancel your membership or billing.
You do: enter your Goat Monitoring login to link the accounts.
DisputeGoat does: verifies the link and syncs your report.
Step 4: Review your report
Your dashboard shows your report from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion in one place, with your scores. Scores can differ by bureau.
DisputeGoat groups report items by category, such as late payments, collections, inquiries and reporting inconsistencies, and flags some items for a closer look. A flagged item is a prompt to check your records. You decide whether to dispute it. Accurate information can stay on your report.
For each item, check it against your own records:
- Is this account yours?
- Do the balance and status match your statements?
- Do the reported dates match what you know?
- Do you recognize each hard inquiry?
Keep copies of documents that support your dispute, such as statements, receipts or letters. You decide which items, if any, need a letter.
You do: compare items with your records and decide what to challenge.
DisputeGoat does: shows all three bureaus in one workspace and flags some items to check.
Step 5: Prepare a letter
The letter builder has six short steps:
- What are you challenging? Enter the item exactly as it appears on your report. Describe what is inaccurate in your own words and choose why you are disputing it. DisputeGoat may suggest a reason, and you confirm it.
- Choose bureaus. Keep the bureaus that report this item.
- Furnisher letter (optional). Add a letter to the creditor that reported it.
- Secondary bureaus (optional). Add agencies outside the big three.
- Choose your letter approach. Goat Suggest picks a common approach for the type you selected. You can change it.
- Review and download. Add your name and address, read the letter, edit it, then download.
The Download as PDF button opens your browser's print window, where you can print the letter or save a PDF. When you download, the letter is saved to your tracker.
Read every letter before you send it. You are responsible for what it says.
You do: supply the facts, choose the approach, edit and approve the letter.
DisputeGoat does: fills in the letter structure from your answers and keeps a copy of what you downloaded.
Step 6: Mail it yourself
DisputeGoat does not send, mail, fax or submit letters. You are the sender and signer of every letter.
Print the letter, sign it, and include copies of any records that support it. Mail it to the address for each bureau or creditor you chose. Postage is yours to pay.
You can choose to send a letter by certified mail and ask for a return receipt, so you have a record that it was received. Keep a copy of the letter and any receipt.
When the letter is in the mail, go back to your tracker and mark it as sent. Confirm the date you mailed it. The follow-up timer starts from that date, not from the download.
If you would rather not use DisputeGoat for this at all, you can dispute directly with the bureaus for free. The CFPB explains how.
You do: print, sign, mail and pay postage, then mark the letter as sent.
DisputeGoat does: nothing at this step. The mailing is entirely yours.
Step 7: Track the response
Every letter you download lands in your letter tracker. Each one moves through three stages: Downloaded, Sent and Resolved. A letter is marked Downloaded when you download it. You mark it Sent and Resolved yourself. You can also mark a sent letter as Rejected.
Once you mark a letter as sent, the tracker shows a 30-day timer. Under FCRA Section 611, a credit bureau generally has 30 days from the day it receives your dispute to complete its reinvestigation. That can stretch by up to 15 days if you send the bureau relevant information during the 30 days. The timer counts from the date you mailed the letter, so it does not know when the bureau received it. It is a reminder, not a promise of any result.
When a bureau writes back, log the response: Deleted, Verified, Updated, Stall letter or Other, with your own notes. If the response window passes, or you log a Verified or Stall response, DisputeGoat may offer to prepare a next round for that item. Whether to send one is your decision.
You do: record mail dates and responses.
DisputeGoat does: keeps the log, runs the timer and shows your next step.