How to Check Your Credit Report for Errors

Your credit report contains details about your credit accounts, payment history, balances, and other information that lenders may use to assess your creditworthiness. If a lender or credit reporting company reports something incorrectly, that mistake could affect how your credit history is viewed. Reviewing your reports regularly helps you spot problems early and gives you an opportunity to challenge inaccurate information.

You can check your credit reports yourself for free. The key is to review all three reports carefully, compare account details against your records, and investigate anything that looks unfamiliar or incorrect.

Key Takeaways

• Check your reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion because the information may differ between them.
• Review personal information, account ownership, payment history, balances, account status, dates, and inquiries.
• Compare questionable details with statements, payment confirmations, and other relevant records.
• Dispute information that is inaccurate or incomplete, rather than challenging an item simply because it is negative.
• Checking your own credit report does not hurt your credit score.

1. Get Your Credit Reports From All Three Bureaus

Start by obtaining your credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Each company maintains its own file, so an error may appear on one report without appearing on the other two.

The official AnnualCreditReport.com website is the federally authorized source for requesting your reports from the three nationwide credit reporting companies. You can currently request free weekly online reports, and checking your own reports does not lower your credit score.

If you need help obtaining them, follow our guide on how to get your credit reports. Once you have all three, save copies securely so you can compare the information and refer to the original reports if you need to dispute an error.

2. Check Your Personal Information First

Begin with the identification section of each report. Check your name, date of birth, addresses, and other identifying details for mistakes or information you do not recognize.

A minor formatting difference or an old address is not automatically evidence of a credit reporting error. However, an unfamiliar address, incorrect identifying information, or details that appear to belong to another person deserve closer attention, particularly if you also find accounts you do not recognize.

One possible explanation is a mixed file, which occurs when information belonging to two people gets combined in a credit file. Another possibility is identity theft. If you find an account you did not open, do not assume it is merely a clerical mistake. Review the account carefully and consider reporting suspected identity theft through the federal government's IdentityTheft.gov resource.

3. Review Every Credit Account

Next, examine each credit card, loan, mortgage, and other account listed on your reports. Do not stop after checking the account name or whether it looks familiar. Review the individual details because an account you recognize can still contain incorrect information.

For each account, check the following:

• Account ownership: Did you open the account, or are you an authorized user? Is it being attributed to the correct person?
• Account status: Is an open account marked closed, or a closed account marked open?
• Payment history: Does the report show a late payment when you paid on time?
• Current balance: Does the reported amount match the available statement or account record?
• Credit limit: Does the listed limit match the limit your creditor reported?
• Important dates: Are the opening date, payment dates, or other relevant dates incorrect?
• Duplicate entries: Does the same debt appear more than once in a way that suggests duplicate reporting?

For example, suppose you paid your credit card balance in full, but the report still shows a balance that does not match the account information available to you. That difference is worth investigating, although reporting cycles can mean your report does not immediately reflect a recent payment. Check the statement date and the date the creditor last reported the account before deciding that an error occurred.

4. Compare Your Payment History With Your Records

Payment history deserves particular attention because a payment incorrectly marked late can affect how lenders assess your creditworthiness. Look at the months marked late, the severity of each reported delinquency, and any dates that do not match your records.

If you believe a payment was reported incorrectly, compare the entry with bank statements, creditor statements, payment confirmations, and any correspondence about the account. Keep in mind that the payment date, the date the creditor received the payment, and the date the information appeared on your credit report may not be the same.

For example, if your report shows a missed payment for April but your records show that the creditor received your payment on time, gather the relevant statement and confirmation before disputing the entry. If the payment was genuinely late, however, the negative information is not an error merely because you later paid the account.

5. Look for Collections and Duplicate Debts

Review any collection accounts or debts that have been transferred or sold to another company. Check whether you recognize the debt, whether the amount appears correct, and whether the account details match the records available to you.

A debt may be listed under a collection agency's name rather than the original creditor's familiar name, so an unfamiliar company name does not automatically mean the account is fraudulent. Look at the account details and investigate the relationship between the original creditor and the company reporting the debt.

Also check for the same debt appearing multiple times in a way that could represent duplicate reporting. Multiple entries can sometimes reflect different stages of an account's history or different reporting relationships, so compare the details before concluding that the entries are improper. If the debt does not belong to you, the balance is wrong, or the account appears to be an error in the credit report, gather the relevant information.

6. Review Hard Inquiries and Other Unfamiliar Activity

A credit report may include inquiries showing when a business accessed your credit information. Review the hard inquiries and look for applications you do not remember making.

A hard inquiry may appear after you apply for a credit card, loan, or other credit product. If you do not recognize one, first check whether it could be associated with a lender, dealership, or financial institution involved in an application you recently submitted.

Not every unfamiliar inquiry is necessarily unauthorized, and soft inquiries can appear for reasons that do not affect your score. If a hard inquiry remains unexplained, contact the company listed and investigate whether someone used your information without permission. For more detail, see what a hard inquiry is.

7. Compare the Three Reports, but Do Not Assume Every Difference Is an Error

Once you have reviewed each report individually, compare them side by side. You may find that an account appears on one report but not another, or that a balance or account status differs between reporting companies.

Those differences are not automatically errors. Creditors may report information to different bureaus at different times, and not every lender reports to all three. Before disputing a difference, check whether it reflects different reporting dates, incomplete reporting, or a genuine inaccuracy.

If you find discrepancies you cannot explain, document the exact account, the information each bureau reports, and why you believe the information is wrong. Our guide to why your three credit reports are different can help you understand legitimate differences before you take action.

8. Gather Evidence Before You Dispute an Error

When you identify a possible error, collect the documents that help establish what is wrong. Depending on the issue, these may include account statements, payment confirmations, letters from a creditor, account closure notices, or identity theft records.

Write down the specific information you are challenging and explain what you believe the correct information should be. For example, instead of saying that your payment history is wrong, identify the month marked late and explain why the entry does not match your payment records.

You can dispute inaccurate information with the credit reporting company and the company that supplied the information, known as the furnisher. The CFPB's dispute guidance explains how to submit a dispute and what information to include.

Keep copies of your reports, documents, and correspondence. These records will help you track the dispute and check whether the company corrected the information after completing its investigation.

9. Check the Results After the Investigation

Submitting a dispute is not the final step. Once you receive the investigation results, review the outcome and obtain an updated report to confirm whether the information changed as expected.

If the error remains, read the explanation and determine whether you have additional evidence or need to contact the company that supplied the information. You may also need to dispute the same inaccurate information with another credit reporting company if it appears on that company's report.

Credit reporting disputes generally take 30 days to investigate, although certain cases can take up to 45 days. The CFPB's guidance on disputing credit report errors explains the process and your rights.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Checking Your Credit Report

A careful review is more useful than disputing every entry that looks unfamiliar at first glance. Avoid these common mistakes:

• Checking only one bureau: An error may appear on one report but not the others.
• Assuming all negative information is wrong: Accurate negative information generally cannot be removed just because it affects your credit.
• Ignoring reporting dates: A recent payment may not appear immediately, depending on when the creditor reports account information.
• Disputing without identifying the problem: Explain the exact information you believe is inaccurate and provide relevant supporting records.
• Assuming a dispute automatically fixes every report: Check each bureau where the information appears and verify the outcome.

If your goal is to improve your credit, correcting genuine reporting errors is one part of the process. You should also continue making payments on time, managing your balances responsibly, and monitoring your credit history.

The Bottom Line

Checking your credit report for errors means reviewing your personal information, account details, payment history, balances, collections, and inquiries across all three credit bureaus. When you find something that does not match your records, investigate the discrepancy and gather evidence before disputing it.

You do not need to pay someone to exercise your right to dispute inaccurate information. A careful review, a well-documented dispute, and a check of the final results can help you protect the accuracy of your credit history.

Frequently Asked Questions