Study: 1 in 4 Have Some Type of Error on Their Credit Report

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – When’s the last time you checked your credit report?

Results of a new Federal Trade Commission study released this week say you might need to get on that.

The study found a whopping 1 in 4 people have some type of error on their credit report.

“Most of them are minor errors–maybe spelling of the name, addresses, date of birth,” says Vice President of Consumer Credit Counseling, Inc. in Macon, Nicole Caldwell.  “But those things can still cause confusion.”

Roughly 5% of the errors found could lead to financial penalties, like being denied a loan.

“You should keep a good track of that,” says Charles Lockhart of Macon.  “So that in case you do need to get a loan or you do need to do something.”

Joseph Mann says he checks his credit report every month.

“I learned that in the military,” says Mann.  “Because I went from Texas to Japan, and when I came back from Japan, somebody in Virginia had a cell phone bill in my name.”

Checking your report every month is good, but credit counselors suggest at least using your six free opportunities per year.

“By Georgia law, you have the right to check your credit report twice a year from each of the big credit bureaus,” says Caldwell.  “The three big credit bureaus are TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.  So, everybody, can go to annualcreditreport.com to pull those credit reports for free, twice a year.”

The study also found that four in five people who took steps to fix the errors on their credit reports had those errors corrected.