XB is a compliance condition code a furnisher sends to the credit bureaus to show that you dispute the account information under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It is what lets a bureau show the account as disputed by you.
Also called: XB, XB compliance condition code, account information disputed by consumer, dispute flag XB
What it means
XB is one of the compliance condition codes furnishers use to report the status of a dispute. In Wood v. Credit One Bank, a federal court in Virginia considered XB along with two related codes. A published summary of that decision describes XB as meaning the consumer disputes the account information under the FCRA. When a furnisher sends XB, the bureaus can show the account as disputed by you.
Where it comes from
The Fair Credit Reporting Act says that if you dispute information with a furnisher, it may not keep furnishing that information to a bureau without notice that you dispute it (15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a)(3)). The XB code is one way furnishers give that notice.
Disputes that come through a credit bureau work a little differently. The furnisher investigates and reports back, and the code it chooses at that point tells the bureaus whether the dispute continues. In Wood, the bank answered each of the consumer’s six disputes with XH, the code for a dispute that is now resolved.
Common errors
- No flag at all. The furnisher keeps reporting the account with no sign that you dispute it. In Seamans v. Temple University, a loan servicer’s employee testified that until November 2011 it did not report accounts as disputed to the bureaus.
- Dropped too soon. The XB flag is replaced with a “resolved” code even though you still disagree.
- Left on when you no longer dispute. A dispute flag can also stay on after you ask that it be removed.
How to dispute it
If your report doesn’t show an account as disputed when it should, say so in writing to each bureau and to the furnisher. Explain what you dispute and why, and attach proof. Ask that the account be reported as disputed while it is being investigated and that your continued disagreement be reported afterward if the furnisher won’t correct it.
When it can be an FCRA violation
Courts have held that a furnisher’s failure to report a genuine dispute can make a credit report misleading. In Seamans, the Third Circuit held that a furnisher that learns of a potentially meritorious dispute and then fails to report it as disputed can be sued, and that the omission may be a material inaccuracy. A missing or wrong code is not automatically a violation; the dispute has to be real and the omission has to be misleading.
If your account still isn’t shown as disputed after you’ve disputed it, request a free case review; there is no fee unless we win.
Related
- Compliance condition code
- XC code (investigation complete, consumer disagrees)
- XH code (previously disputed, now resolved)
- ACDV (automated consumer dispute verification)
- Reinvestigation
- Metro 2 format
- How to Dispute Credit Report Errors With Equifax, Experian and TransUnion
- How to Write a Credit Report Dispute Letter That Gets Investigated
- Dispute letter builder
Sources
- Wood v. Credit One Bank, No. 3:15cv594 (E.D. Va. Sept. 21, 2017)
- Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor, summary of Wood v. Credit One Bank (Oct. 2017)
- Seamans v. Temple University, No. 12-4298 (3d Cir. Feb. 21, 2014)
- 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2 (duties of furnishers), Cornell LII
Updated November 2026. This glossary is written by FCRA Attorneys from public sources. It is general information, not legal advice, and is not affiliated with any credit bureau or industry association.