More Consumers Complain About Errors on Their Credit Reports

Excerpted from The New York Times By Ann Carrns

Add this to the financial fallout from the pandemic: More consumers are complaining about errors on their credit reports, and many are frustrated when trying to fix the mistakes, according to federal complaint data.

In 2020, consumers filed more than 280,000 complaints about credit reporting issues — more than half of all complaints received last year by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said Syed Ejaz, a policy analyst for Consumer Reports.

The number of credit-reporting complaints more than doubled from 2019, according to the agency’s online complaint database.

“They certainly have ballooned over the past year,” Mr. Ejaz said.

Credit report errors have long been a problem for American consumers. Accuracy matters because the contents of your credit report help determine whether you can qualify for loans and credit cards, and what interest rate you’ll pay.

Common mistakes include loans that have been repaid but appear as unpaid; debts incorrectly reported as being in collection; incorrect personal information and addresses; and “mixed” files, in which information from a different person appears in your credit report.
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