More than one-third of individuals participating in a study organized by Consumer Reports found at least one error on their credit report, leading the advocacy group to call on furnishers — including debt collectors — to be required to follow stronger standards to ensure the accuracy of information contained in credit reports.
A copy of the report is available by clicking here.
More than 6,000 individuals nationwide participated in the report, which asked consumers to check their credit reports weekly and report back on their findings. Of the 34% of participants who found errors in their reports, 29% said the error related to their personal information and 11% said they found account errors. The most common error with respect to personal information was incorrect addresses and among those who reported actual account errors, 41% said they saw tradelines in their report that they did not recognize. Others said they had tradelines where debts they did not recognize had been reported to debt collectors.
The report also includes summaries and anecdotes from participants describing what they found on their credit reports.
The report also makes a number of recommendations for both furnishers and credit reporting agencies and for regulators like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission to help improve the accuracy of information included in consumers’ credit reports. Among those recommendations are:
- Requiring furnishers to match the first name, last name, and all nine digits of a consumer’s Social Security number when reporting information to the credit reporting agencies.
- Retaining documents for as long as the debt is being reported.
- Requiring collectors to document and maintain an itemized record of the total principal, interest, fees, and other charges that have been added to the debt, and the name of the original creditor when suing over a debt. The report also suggests that selling or collecting on debts that are too old to be reported should be made illegal.
- Improving the dispute process and requiring furnishers to consider new information in complaints submitted by consumers.
