Consumer Reports and WorkMoney did a study with 4300 credit checkers and found 46% of U.S. credit reports could contain errors. This was checking the three major credit agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Another big problem they discovered, a quarter of the participants were unable to access their credit reports, which are supposed to be available to everyone.
Research by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group finds that credit agencies are the most common subject of complaints filed to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They found complaints about credit reporting nearly doubled between 2021 and 2022. Most of the complaints are related to allegations of improper use of credit reports, errors or problems getting a credit agency to correct mistakes.
- Experts advise American consumers to read their credit reports, which should be available for free at AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Report any errors you find to any of the three credit bureau websites. You can also contact the company directly for errors on a specific account.
- If the credit bureau doesn’t fix the error, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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