{"id":187,"date":"2012-04-06T10:10:42","date_gmt":"2012-04-06T14:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/?p=187"},"modified":"2021-01-01T17:43:36","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T22:43:36","slug":"how-to-examine-your-consumer-report-for-inaccuracies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/?p=187","title":{"rendered":"How to Examine Your Consumer Report For Inaccuracies"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you request a copy of your “credit report” from a consumer reporting agency, you are actually receiving a document that is a consumer report<\/strong> often referred to as a\u00a0consumer file disclosure.\u00a0 Under the FCRA, a credit report is consumer credit information that a CRA provided to third parties like banks, car dealers, and mortgage brokers.\u00a0 A consumer report is simply that same credit information, however it sent directly to you the consumer not a third party.\u00a0\u00a0Pursuant to Section 1681g of the FCRA, you are entitled to receive an exact\u00a0copy of the entire contents of the credit file that\u00a0the CRA\u00a0maintains on you that it sends to third parties as a credit report.<\/p>\n

The consumer reports provided by Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax all have a different appearance and layout, but the types of information maintained on the report are basically the same.\u00a0 Some furnishers only report to one of the three main CRAs, so an account may\u00a0appear on only\u00a0one out of the three credit files.\u00a0 Moreover, if you obtain a consumer report from a third party vendor, the appearance and ordering of the information can change.\u00a0 In general, there are five main groups of information that appear on all\u00a0consumer reports including: background information, public record information, prior credit account\u00a0history, inquiries, and FCRA required disclosures.<\/p>\n

On the top of your consumer credit report, the CRA provides you with the background information associated with the credit file as well as a credit file number.\u00a0 The background identifying information includes: name, address, former addresses, date of birth, partial social security number, and employment data.\u00a0 You should check this information carefully to make sure that none of the information is inaccurate.\u00a0 If you are the victim of identity theft, many times you will see information related to the identity thief such as addresses and dates of birth that are unrelated to your actual identifying information.\u00a0 Make sure you dispute any of the information that is inaccurate as incorrect background information can cause erroneous credit accounts to be associated with your credit file. For information on how to dispute inaccurate information in your credit file, please see my prior post:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/?p=36<\/a><\/p>\n

Following your background information, you will see public record information, which can be some of the most damaging information on a credit file.\u00a0\u00a0Many\u00a0credit denials are the result of\u00a0inaccurate judgment information, inaccurate bankruptcy information, or inaccurate tax liens.\u00a0 You should carefully review the reported public record\u00a0information to make sure that no information related to another consumer has been mixed up with your credit information.<\/p>\n

Next, you will typically see information related to your past credit accounts.\u00a0 Some CRAs will list the adverse accounts in a separate section of the report, while others will simply report the accounts in alphabetical order.\u00a0 Attention to detail is vital as you review these accounts because account number and creditor names can change. Because of these changes, it can be difficult to determine if a particular account is yours.\u00a0 If you see credit accounts that are not yours or accounts that are reporting inaccurate late payments,\u00a0include a description why the account(s) are inaccurate\u00a0when you send a credit dispute letter to the credit reporting agency.<\/p>\n

Following your credit account information, you will see information related to third party inquires into your credit history.\u00a0 These inquiries will include both “hard inquires” and “soft inquiries.”\u00a0 When reviewing your inquiries, please make sure that you either authorized the credit inquiry or that the creditor had a legitimate business reason for acquiring a copy of your credit report.\u00a0 “Soft inquiries” do not affect your credit score and can be acquired by companies that want to establish a business relationship with you.\u00a0 Be careful when dealing with companies that have acquired your information via a soft inquiry as in some instances they can be companies that have poor records with organizations like the Better Business Bureau.<\/p>\n

Finally, all CRAs are required to provide you with important notices regarding your rights under the FCRA.\u00a0 At the end of the consumer report, you should receive a summary of your consumer rights\u00a0as well as\u00a0a list of regulatory agencies that you may contact.\u00a0 If you are reviewing your consumer report and notice anything unusual, inaccurate, or wrong, please do not hesitate to contact me at my office, 571-313-0412.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you request a copy of your “credit report” from a consumer reporting agency, you are actually receiving a document that is a consumer report often referred to as a\u00a0consumer file disclosure.\u00a0 Under the FCRA, a credit report is consumer credit information that a CRA provided to third parties like banks, car dealers, and mortgage … Continue reading How to Examine Your Consumer Report For Inaccuracies<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disputes","tag-inaccurate-reports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourfaircreditlawyernow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}