If you have discovered any errors or inaccurate information on your credit reports, it is important to act swiftly. Incorrect information on your credit report may be harming your score. Your creditors (“credit furnishers”) that report your debt information to the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, Transunion) owe you a duty to conduct a reasonable investigation after you dispute any information contained in your credit report. If they fail to correct or remove the errors, you may have a claim for damages.
The Law
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), your creditors are prohibited from reporting inaccurate or incorrect information to the credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, Transunion). You must follow the formal dispute process, and this federal law is just about the only way you (as a private citizen) can force the creditor to fix its errors. This body of federal law (Fair Credit Reporting Act / FCRA) was designed to protect the rights of all individual consumers.
What Is Considered “Incorrect” Info?
Information on your credit report is considered incorrect if the information is false. For instance, the error could be biographical, meaning your name is misspelled or your social security number, address, or phone number is wrong. Other incorrect information may be a debt on the credit report that you never borrowed or an entry that improperly showed your account as delinquent. Information that is missing is not necessarily incorrect – your creditors have a duty to report accurately IF they report information.
For people that have filed a bankruptcy in the last several years, the accuracy of your credit report may be even more at risk than other consumers because of the amount of information that changed so rapidly. For bankruptcy filers, if the credit report shows any discharged debts as “in collection” or “charged off,” or a “balance due” above 0 or “past due,” then the report is wrong and needs to be disputed. If a debt was discharged in bankruptcy, credit reports should indicate that the debt was “included in bankruptcy,” “discharged,” and that the “current amount due” or “balance” is “0.”
Should I Pull My Credit Reports All the Time?
No. Pulling your credit reports too often may negatively affect your score. Each year you are entitled to one free credit report from each credit bureau at www.annualcreditreport.com.
Do You Have a Dispute or Additional Questions?
If so, call us today for a free consultation. We handle the formal dispute process for credit reporting errors and will assure that it is done properly. Additionally, if your creditor has not fixed the error, we will pursue your claim in the courts of Tennessee.