--- title: What Kinds of Errors Should I Look for on My Credit Report? description: The credit bureaus that create your credit report aren’t infallible. 20% of participants in a study by the FTC found errors in their credit report. authors: - name: timestaff url: https://money.com/author/timestaff/ articles: 459 covers: - Credit - Banking - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true published: '2014-05-26T17:03:27.000Z' modified: '2024-04-02T04:38:08.000Z' section: Credit tags: - Credit - credit bureau - credit errors - credit report - credit report errors - credit score - Debt canonical: https://money.com/collection-post/kinds-of-errors-on-credit-report/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![What Kinds of Errors Should I Look for on My Credit Report?](https://money.com/img/logo-social.png) Those credit bureaus that create your credit report aren’t infallible. In fact, one in five participants in a recent study by the Federal Trade Commission found errors in their credit report. One in ten of those errors made a difference in the [person’s credit score](https://money.com/collection-post/what-is-credit-report-when-used/); one in twenty were so grievous that they could have led to the person paying higher rates for loans or, in some cases, even being denied credit entirely. “The financial downsides to errors are huge,” says John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at CreditSesame.com, "Besides the credit issues, it can even affect your insurance rates and ability to get a job.” When you periodically review your reports, you should watch out for accounts you never opened, which may signal that you’re a victim of identity theft or that the bureau or lender has confused you with someone of the same or similar name. Verify, too, that negative information isn’t listed past the date it’s supposed to be removed from the report—seven years for late payments, collection notices, and foreclosures, 10 years for bankruptcies. Confirm that any billing issues that have been resolved are noted as such. ***Read next: Do You Worry About Identity Theft?*** Even if a mistake doesn’t seem like it will impact your ability to get credit—a misspelled name, for example—you’ll want to take steps get it fixed. You don’t want something silly like that to hold up your process of credit approval once you’re, say, [applying for a mortgage on your dream home.](https://money.com/collection-post/pay-off-mortgage/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/collection-post/kinds-of-errors-on-credit-report/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Credit", "item": "https://money.com/credit/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Credit Report", "item": "https://money.com/credit-report/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "What Kinds of Errors Should I Look for on My Credit Report?" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/collection-post/kinds-of-errors-on-credit-report/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/collection-post/kinds-of-errors-on-credit-report/", "name": "What Kinds of Errors Should I Look for on My Credit Report?", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2014-05-26T17:03:27.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/collection-post/kinds-of-errors-on-credit-report/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/collection-post/kinds-of-errors-on-credit-report/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-02T04:38:08.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "What Kinds of Errors Should I Look for on My Credit Report?", "articleSection": "Credit", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://money.com/img/logo-social.png", "width": 300, "height": 300 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "timestaff", "url": "https://money.com/author/timestaff/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/timestaff/#author" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2014-05-26T17:03:27.000Z", "description": "The credit bureaus that create your credit report aren’t infallible. 20% of participants in a study by the FTC found errors in their credit report.", "abstract": "The credit bureaus that create your credit report aren’t infallible. 20% of participants in a study by the FTC found errors in their credit report.", "@id": "https://money.com/collection-post/kinds-of-errors-on-credit-report/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-02T04:38:08.000Z", "keywords": [ "Credit", "credit bureau", "credit errors", "credit report", "credit report errors", "credit score", "Debt" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Credit Score", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_score" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Credit history", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_history" ] } ] } ] } ```