How to Clean Up Inaccuracies on Your Credit Report

Inaccuracies on your credit report may appear for a number of reasons, but by staying on top of it, consumers can fight back. This is important, as credit report errors are more common than most consumers realize and such errors can affect your ability to get housing, a vehicle, a cell phone or even a job.

How Common Are Inaccuracies on Your Credit Report?

According to a study by the Federal Trade Commission, more than one-quarter of consumers have errors in their credit report and are not even aware of it. These errors can destroy your credit, Credit Karma warns

How do These Errors Get In There?

There are numerous reasons why your credit report may contain errors. Some of these are:

• A disputed debt: If a consumer is in the process of disputing the amount or validity of a debt, the lender or collection agency may report it anyway.
• Identity theft: This is a common cause of credit report errors. If an identity thief gets hold of some piece of vital personal information, he or she can use it to take out loans and/or credit cards in your name and rack up the bills, leaving you to deal with the mess.
• Human error: Data taken from written credit applications may be entered incorrectly, or entered multiple times
• Credit Reporting Agencies: All three major credit reporting agencies (CRAs) have been sued more than once for failing to remove inaccuracies on consumers’ credit records. A partial settlement was recently agreed to by Equifax, Transunion and Experian over a class action lawsuit in which plaintiffs claimed the credit companies had failed to “follow reasonable procedures” to ensure credit reports were accurate and had refused to remove errors.

What is the First Step in Correcting Inaccuracies in Your Credit Report?

In order to remove credit report errors, you must obtain copies from all three CRAs. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to one copy from each CRA every year, free of charge. There may be circumstances under which you can receive more than one free copy – but even if you must pay a small fee, it is important to have this information and review its contents.

You also want copies from each agency because each contains different information. Some consumers will order these at different times.

The CRA Refuses to Remove the Inaccurate Information. What Can I Do?

If this happens, you should contact the creditor or debt collector, and request that it tell the CRAs to remove the errors. Do not hesitate to go directly to the top by writing to the president or CEO of the company. You can also go see them in person if it is a local company. Be persistent and demand that someone in a key position hear your complaint.

If this fails to yield results and you still believe the error(s) were not investigated properly, contact the CRAs directly. All three have toll-free numbers for registering consumer disputes. You can find contact information for the CRAs at Credit Karma.

If they still refuse to remove inaccuracies on your credit report, you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission either online or by mailing a letter.

Join a Free Credit Report Errors Lawsuit Investigation

If you have errors on your credit report, you may qualify to participate in a credit report lawsuit investigation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.