Your credit report affects everything from whether you’re approved for a mortgage to how much interest you’ll pay on a car loan. It can even impact job opportunities or your ability to rent an apartment. But what happens when it’s wrong?
If you’ve recently pulled your credit report and noticed something that doesn’t look right, you’re one of many. Millions of Americans have errors on their credit reports, and those mistakes can cost you.
The good news is that you’re not powerless. You have rights that can help you fix the problem before it spirals into something bigger.
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Obtaining a Copy of Your Credit Report
Before you can fix errors, you need to see what’s being reported. You’re entitled to a free copy of your credit report once per year from each of the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You can get them at AnnualCreditReport.com, which is the only site authorized by federal law.
Look through each report carefully. Dig into the accounts, payment histories, and even your personal details. Errors can be as simple as a wrong address or as serious as someone else’s debt showing up under your name.
What to Do With an Error
Even one mistake on your credit report can hurt you. A single missed payment – or a fake collection account – can drop your credit score by dozens of points. That could mean higher interest rates, denied applications, or worse.
Common credit report errors include:
- Accounts that don’t belong to you
- Incorrect balances or credit limits
- Payments falsely marked as late or missed
- Closed accounts listed as open
- Duplicate accounts
- Outdated personal information (old addresses, name misspellings, wrong employer)
If something doesn’t look right, trust your gut and take steps to correct it immediately.
File a Dispute With the Credit Bureau
You have the right to dispute anything you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the credit bureau must investigate your claim and correct or delete any information that turns out to be wrong.
“The Fair Credit Reporting Act or FCRA is a federal law that regulates the collection of consumer credit information and access to credit reports,” attorney Jibrael S. Hindi explains. “This federal law governs the collecting and reporting of consumer credit info, including how the credit bureaus may obtain the information, for how long they may keep it, and how they can share it with other entities.”
To start the dispute process:
- Contact the credit bureau directly (online, by phone, or mail).
- Clearly explain the error.
- Include supporting documents (e.g., payment records, identity theft reports, account statements).
- Request a correction or deletion of the inaccurate information.
The bureau will contact the company that reported the information (the “furnisher”) and ask them to verify it. If the furnisher can’t back it up, the bureau must update your report.
Contact the Furnisher
It’s smart to go directly to the source as well. If your bank, credit card company, or loan servicer reported the error, contact them and dispute it on their end too. Send a written explanation of the issue, along with any documentation that proves your case. (Fixing the error at both levels helps ensure it doesn’t pop back up in the future.)
Check Back and Follow Up
After the bureau completes its investigation, they’ll send you the results. If they agree with you, they’ll correct the report. If not, they’ll explain why.
But your job doesn’t end there. Pull your credit report again in a few months to make sure the correction sticks. Sometimes errors reappear or aren’t fully resolved the first time. If the bureau refuses to correct a clear mistake, you might have legal options.
Know When to Call an Attorney
The FCRA was designed to protect you. If a credit bureau or lender fails to investigate your dispute, continues to report false information, or allows someone else’s account to remain on your record, they could be breaking the law.
In those cases, a consumer protection attorney can help you take legal action. If the violation is proven, you could recover damages for the financial harm and stress the error caused you.
Protect Yourself Moving Forward
Fixing one mistake is great. But you don’t want to deal with the same problem again next year. To stay on top of your credit moving forward:
- Set reminders to check your reports at least once a year.
- Freeze your credit if you suspect identity theft.
- Sign up for credit monitoring (many banks and credit cards offer this for free).
- Keep copies of all dispute correspondence and documents.
Bottom line? If your credit report has errors, don’t shrug it off. You have rights under the FCRA, and there are clear steps you can follow to fix what’s broken. And if you run into resistance, legal help is available.