Common credit report mistakes to watch for

According to a Federal Trade Commission study, roughly 20% of Americans have errors on their credit reports. An error on your credit report may result in a lower credit score, which could make it harder to convince California lenders to approve a loan application. Take a look at the errors that tend to show up the most often on a credit report.

The status of an account may not be accurate

It isn’t uncommon for credit reports to claim that you are a primary credit card account owner when you are merely an authorized user of the account. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to see that an account is listed as delinquent even though you are current with your payments. You may also see accounts listed as open even though they are actually closed.

There may be accounts that you don’t recognize

If you see accounts on your credit report that you don’t recognize, it could be because someone has opened them in your name without your permission. However, there is also a chance that the account belongs to someone who you share a name with and was listed on your report by mistake.

Accounts may be listed more than once

Data management issues may result in an account being listed multiple times on your credit report. There is also a possibility that information that was removed in the past is inserted again by mistake. You can contact a credit agency directly to dispute an error on your credit report. A consumer rights attorney may be able to assist you in fixing errors on your credit report. The attorney may be able to prove that you are improperly listed as an account owner or that an account was opened in your name without prior approval.