WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A new report from Consumer Reports found credit report errors have more than doubled since 2021, and the organization is urging consumers to do regular credit checkups.
The report found that there were 645,000 credit error complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last year, compared to 308,000 complaints filed in 2021.
Because of this, Consumer Reports and nonprofit WorkMoney are announcing a "credit check-up" project to encourage consumers to regularly check in on their credit reports and provide guidance on what to do if they find mistakes.
Some of the frequent errors, according to the complaints, include incorrect addresses and yearly salaries.
"Ninety percent of the consumers that we deal with have false, inaccurate, unverifiable, not valid information that's on their credit reports, 90% or more," Paul Oster, credit repair specialist and founder of Better Qualified, told WPTV. "This is a situation, and that information will cause a lower credit score."
Consumers can check their credit report weekly, without any consequences to their credit, by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com.
If you think your report contains errors, you should file a dispute with each major credit reporting bureau using certified mail and include documentation like financial statements or payment records.
If the dispute is not resolved at that point, you should file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.