Common Credit Record Errors

Errors may include all of these or just some of them:

•  Information is commingled: Your credit record includes credit information from someone with a name similar or identical to yours.

•  The name of a former spouse appears on your credit record.

•  Your name is misspelled, your address is wrong, or your social security number is incorrect.

•  Duplicate accounts show up.

•  Account information is inaccurate or incomplete. [ Example: information for an account shows that you were delinquent for several months a year ago, but it fails to show that you caught up and have paid on time for the past nine months. ] Other problems could include incorrect account balances and reporting paid-off or closed accounts as open.

•  Outdated information is included. [ In most cases, a credit reporting agency is legally permitted to maintain and report negative account information on a consumer for seven years, and bankruptcies for ten. ]

•  Account information not related to you.

•  Unauthorized inquiries are listed.

•  There is a failure to show that a tax lien has been released (cured or paid off)

These problems, once discovered, must be corrected as soon as possible to minimize possible damage to your credit record. Regardless of which credit reporting agency you are dealing with, the process for correcting errors is the same under the terms of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Credit agencies have thirty days to respond to your concerns.