Tuesday, May 17, 2011

U.S. PIRG Research Reveals an Alarming Number of Credit Reporting Inaccuracies

A study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found that 79 percent of all credit reports contained errors. These black marks in your credit history can have devastating consequences:

This is the PIRGs' sixth study on credit report accuracy and privacy issues since 1991. The PIRGs have also participated in state and federal legislative battles to improve credit reporting laws. This report is our first investigation of credit report accuracy since 1996 Congressional changes to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), designed to improve the accuracy and ease of access to reports, took effect in September 1997. The findings of Mistakes that Can Happen are troubling. An alarming number of credit reports contain serious errors that could cause the denial of credit, a loan, or even a job.

Among the major credit report accuracy findings of the survey:
  • Twenty-nine percent (25%) of the credit reports contained serious errors - false delinquencies or accounts that did not belong to the consumer - that could result in the denial of credit;
  • Fifty-four percent (54%) of the credit reports contained personal demographic identifying information that was misspelled, long-outdated, belonged to a stranger, or was otherwise incorrect;
  • Twenty-two percent (22%) of the credit reports listed the same mortgage or loan twice;
  • Eight percent (8%) of the credit reports were missing major credit, loan, mortgage, or other consumer accounts that demonstrate the creditworthiness of the consumer;
  • Thirty percent (30%) of the credit reports contained credit accounts that had been closed by the consumer but incorrectly remained listed as open;
  • Altogether, Seventy-nine percent (79%) of the credit reports contained either serious errors or other mistakes of some kind.
    Among the survey's major access to credit report findings:
  • Of the consumers that did obtain their credit reports, at least 14% of them were forced to call back 3 or more times after receiving busy signals or had to write a letter in order to receive their report;
  • And 12% of the consumers waited two weeks or longer to receive their report once they finished requesting it. It took more than a month for one California man to receive his report.
  • Overall, 15% of consumers who attempted to participate in the survey either made at least 3 phone calls and never got through for requested their reports but never received them.
To read the full report, click here: 

For more inormation concerning Federal and State CONSUMER LAWS that regulate how information is reported to a consumer's personal credit report including the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

To learn how S.O.S. - Score Optimization Systems can assist you in removing negative information reported to your credit file, CLICK HERE:  www.scoreoptimizationsystems.com

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