10 Common Credit Report Errors That May Cost You Real Money

Here are the 10 common credit reporting errors that can cost you real money*:

1. A delinquent account that has the wrong "date of delinquency*" or that is being reported more than 7.5 years from the date of original delinquency.

The usual situation is where an original creditor like “BigBank” charges off your credit card account in June of 2012 because it went delinquent in January of 2013 (when you stopped paying), then they sell it to DebtBuyer in 2011 who posts the date of delinquency as anything other than January of 2013 (usually later). Sneaky! And Wrong. You deserve to have that thing disappear 7.5 years from January 2010.

2. A debt that was discharged in Bankruptcy (or that pre-existed a “no-asset” Chapter 7 Bankruptcy) but is still listed as ANYTHING OTHER than discharged in Bankruptcy - and with a ZERO balance. Also any former creditors on accounts that were discharged in Bankruptcy who have been “hard pulling” your credit report: They’re on autopilot and they don’t realize that they don’t have any business relationship with you any more.

3. Accounts that you closed but that don’t indicate “closed by consumer.”

These are a problem because it looks like the creditor closed the account involuntarily.

4. A vehicle account listed as a “repossession” when, in fact, you voluntarily returned the vehicle. This is a big deal. (You can dispute this with the short statement that YOU returned the vehicle voluntarily.)

5. Account histories that are inaccurate.

Maybe you paid late in May of 2012, but the tradeline says you were current in May but paid 30 days late in October of 2012. (You can dispute that October late payment with a canceled check or orally and are under NO obligation to include in your dispute that you were late in May.)

6. A tradeline that you don’t recognize. Maybe it’s someone else’s, maybe it’s nobody’s. Maybe it’s yours and the creditor and Credit Reporting Agency can or can’t verify it. If you can’t recognize or remember it - you can dispute that it belongs to you.

7. A tradeline belonging to someone with a similar name or alias or Social Security Number. Maybe this account actually belongs to somebody else! (This is called a "mixed file").

8. A missing notation that you have disputed any tradeline or portion thereof with the creditor. (e.g. “Consumer Disputes”) (You can send proof of your prior dispute with the creditor or make a short statement if you don’t have it.)

9. A creditor’s tradeline that fails to note that it was assigned to collections or “charged off.” This makes it look like you have two delinquent accounts - the original one and the one (for the same debt) that is being reported by the collection agency or debt buyer.

10. Any tradeline - or portion thereof - that is a result of Identity Theft.

Remember: It's got to be accurate and it's got to be verified. Otherwise it gets deleted (or corrected if anyone can actually figure out what the correct information should be - and it should not be YOU who supplies that information).