There are seven billion people in the world; that’s a lot of credit reports. Simply, put, mistakes happen in all areas of business. The vast majority of the time, credit report errors are just that: mistakes. That being said, if you are aware of how these mistakes can happen, you can do your best to protect yourself.

Most of the time, an error on a credit report is because:

– The report contains incomplete information. Perhaps you’ve paid a bill and it hasn’t been posted yet.
– A creditor didn’t send in all the data on a transaction.
– Information about someone else was posted to your report.

Here’s how mistakes happen:

Credit under different names: You’ve applied for credit using different names or your name was input incorrectly. So, perhaps one time you used Susan James and another time you used Sue James-Hughes. Same person, same address – different names. Another instance could be that you applied over the phone for credit and the person taking the application spelled your named “Susin James.” Don’t be surprised to see Susin and multiple spellings of your full name on your credit report.

Social Security Number errors: If you accidentally give out the wrong Social Security number, or a potential lender writes your number down wrong, your report can reflect the misinformation.

Information Published on the Wrong Account: You don’t think you are the only Susan James in the world, right? If payments are applied to someone else’s account, your credit report can reflect that you missed a payment.

The bottom line is this: Check your credit report annually. Contact the reporting agencies that have reported misinformation right away. You have rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act; use them.

If you or someone you know is having problems with their finances, perhaps credit card debt is overwhelming or you are upside down on your mortgage, contact the Law Office of Joel R. Spivack. He can discuss options for getting in control of your financial situation.