Errors on your credit report
A credit bureau must use reasonable procedures to make your report as accurate as possible, and must fix an error you dispute in writing. If it reports something false and will not correct it, you can sue under the Fair Credit Reporting Act for damages and attorney's fees. The lender or collector that sent the bad data can be liable too, once the bureau tells it about your dispute.
Credit report errors are common, and most of them start with the furnisher: a bank, card issuer or collector that sends the wrong number, the wrong date or the wrong status. The bureau then repeats it to everyone who pulls your file. The Fair Credit Reporting Act makes both of them responsible for getting it right, and makes the one that gets it wrong after your dispute pay. If your report has been wrong for a while, start with the checker.
What it looks like
- A balance you do not owe. The account shows more than you owe, or any balance at all after you paid, settled or had it discharged.
- A late payment you never made. A 30- or 60-day late mark for a month you paid on time, often after an autopay change or a servicing transfer.
- An account that is not yours. An account opened by someone else, or belonging to a relative with a similar name. See mixed files and identity theft.
- The same debt twice. The original creditor and a collector both reporting the same balance as owed, or two collectors reporting one debt.
- Wrong status. A closed account shown as open, an account you closed shown as closed by the creditor, or a current account shown as charged off.
- Too old to report. A collection or charge-off still on the report more than 7 years after it should have come off. See the reporting periods below.
The law
The bureau's duty of accuracy
Whenever a consumer reporting agency prepares a report, it "shall follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates" (15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)). The standard is reasonable procedures, not perfection. A bureau that accepts a furnisher's data with no check against obvious conflicts, or keeps reporting an item it has reason to doubt, is where the claim lives.
The bureau's duty to reinvestigate
When you dispute an item, the bureau must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation, free of charge, and finish within 30 days of receiving your dispute (§ 1681i(a)(1)(A)). It may take up to 15 more days only if you send relevant information during the 30 days (§ 1681i(a)(1)(B)). It must notify the furnisher within 5 business days, with all relevant information you provided (§ 1681i(a)(2)(A)), review and consider what you sent (§ 1681i(a)(4)), and promptly delete or modify anything inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable (§ 1681i(a)(5)(A)).
The furnisher's duty
A furnisher may not report what it knows or has reasonable cause to believe is inaccurate (§ 1681s-2(a)(1)(A)), but that duty is enforced by government agencies, not by you (§ 1681s-2(c), (d)). Your claim against the lender or collector arises under § 1681s-2(b): once the bureau notifies it of your dispute, it must investigate, review all relevant information, report the results, and correct or delete inaccurate information with every nationwide bureau it reports to.
How long negative items may stay
| Item | Maximum federal reporting period | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcy case | 10 years from the order for relief or adjudication | 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(1) |
| Civil suits, judgments, arrest records | 7 years, or the limitation period if longer | § 1681c(a)(2) |
| Paid tax liens | 7 years | § 1681c(a)(3) |
| Collection accounts and charge-offs | 7 years, running from 180 days after the delinquency began | § 1681c(a)(4), (c)(1) |
| Other adverse items (not criminal convictions) | 7 years | § 1681c(a)(5) |
The limits do not apply to reports for a credit transaction of $150,000 or more, life insurance of $150,000 or more, or a job paying $75,000 a year or more, the statutory thresholds in § 1681c(b).
If a debt collector is the furnisher, reporting a debt it knows you dispute without saying so is also a false statement under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. § 1692e(8)). See ignored dispute.
What you can recover
For a willful violation, the FCRA allows actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, plus punitive damages as the court allows (15 U.S.C. § 1681n(a)). Willful includes reckless disregard (Safeco Ins. Co. of America v. Burr, 551 U.S. 47 (2007)). For a negligent violation, actual damages (§ 1681o(a)). Actual damages include a loan denied or priced higher, a lost apartment or job, and the distress and harm to reputation from a false report. The FCRA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs.
You also need a concrete harm to sue in federal court. In TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413 (2021), consumers whose inaccurate reports were sent to businesses had standing; those whose files were never sent did not. Keep every denial letter and every notice that a company pulled your report.
What to do now
- Pull all three reports. Free once a year from each nationwide bureau through AnnualCreditReport.com (15 U.S.C. § 1681j(a)(1)). An error on one is often on the others.
- Mark every wrong item. Write down the account, the entry and what the truth is. Gather proof: statements, payoff letters, settlement letters, a bankruptcy discharge.
- Dispute in writing with each bureau reporting it. One letter per bureau, copies of proof (never originals), sent by a method that proves delivery. The dispute page has the checklist.
- Calendar day 30. Count from the day the bureau received the dispute. Results must reach you in writing within 5 business days after it finishes (§ 1681i(a)(6)).
- If the error stays, call a lawyer. A verified error after a documented dispute is the fact pattern on the failed dispute page.
The clock
Earlier of 2 years from discovery or 5 years from the violation
An FCRA claim must be filed within 2 years after you discover the violation, and never more than 5 years after it happened (15 U.S.C. § 1681p). An FDCPA claim against a collector has only one year (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d)). See deadlines.
In New York, New Jersey and Florida
New York's own fair credit reporting act bars an agency from reporting or keeping information it has reason to know is inaccurate (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 380-j(a)), and allows actual damages, costs and fees for negligent noncompliance and punitive damages for willful noncompliance (§§ 380-l, 380-m). In Florida, a person collecting a consumer debt may not disclose information about the debt that it knows is false (Fla. Stat. § 559.72(5)). In New Jersey, the federal Act is the main route. The federal Act limits some state rules on reporting (15 U.S.C. § 1681t(b)), so the right claim depends on the facts. See New York, New Jersey and Florida.
Common questions
What counts as an error on a credit report?
Any item that is false, or technically true but misleading enough to hurt you: a balance you do not owe, a late payment you did not make, an account that belongs to someone else, a paid or discharged debt shown as due, a closed account shown as open, or old negative items past the reporting period.
Can I sue just because my report has a mistake?
A mistake alone is not always enough. The bureau is liable if its procedures were not reasonable, or if it failed to reasonably reinvestigate after you disputed. And to sue in federal court you need a concrete harm, such as the false report being sent to a lender or landlord. A written dispute that the bureau got wrong is the usual starting point.
Should I dispute with the bureau or the lender?
Dispute with the bureau in writing, and consider sending a copy to the lender. The lender's duty that you can enforce in court is triggered only when a credit bureau notifies it of your dispute.
Will a dispute hurt my credit score?
A dispute does not lower your score. A later report must show that you disputed the item if the dispute is not resolved (15 U.S.C. section 1681i(c)).
Tell us what they did.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which laws the collector or the credit bureau broke, which deadline runs first, and what to save this week. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510The FDCPA and the FCRA require a company found liable to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Our fee arrangement is confirmed in a written retainer before we begin. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language.