4 OUT OF 5 CREDIT REPORTS HAVE ERRORS

According to a credit report study, 4 out of 5 credit reports have errors.  The National Association of State Public Interest Research Group’s research included several credit report studies and found:

1. 54% percent of the credit reports sampled contained personal information that was misspelled, outdated or belonged to a stranger. One report, for example, listed a consumer’s birth year as 1952, when she was actually born in 1975.
2. 30% of those credit reports contained credit accounts that had been closed by the consumer but were still listed as open. Incorrectly listing closed accounts as open gives creditors the impression a consumer’s credit is over-extended.
3. 22% of the credit reports had the same mortgage or loan listed twice. Again, this gives creditors the impression a person has over-extended his credit, or is delinquent on one loan.
4. 79%of all of the credit reports studied contained errors of some kind.

What should consumers do to correct credit report errors?

Consumers have the right to obtain their credit reports from Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.  Your credit report is used to determine whether you can get credit, insurance and even a job.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to obtain a free credit report from the consumer reporting agencies once in a twelve month time period.  You also have the right to get a free credit report after you are denied credit based on whole or in part on your credit report.

You also have the right under federal law to dispute credit report errors.  You should always send your dispute by certified mail.  If the credit reporting agencies do not correct the errors, you have the right to sue the bureaus in federal court.

Do you need more information about how to get a free credit report or how to dispute credit report errors?  Have you disputed incorrect information on your credit reports with the credit bureaus?  Contact FCRA attorney Micah Adkins 24/7 at 1-800-263-9091 for a free case review.