Credit Report Errors & Dispute Stats

A 2012 Federal Trade Commission study found that 1 in 5 U.S. consumers (about 20%) had a confirmed error on at least one of their three major credit reports.

The FTC found that 5% of consumers had errors on one of their credit reports material enough that correcting them would result in a lower interest rate on a loan.

A 2024 Consumer Reports and WorkMoney investigation in which more than 4,300 volunteers checked their own credit reports found that almost half identified at least one error, and more than a quarter found serious mistakes.

Under FCRA Section 611(e), the CFPB publishes an annual analysis of credit and consumer reporting complaints that examines how Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion respond to consumers, including prior dispute attempts and the types of responses the bureaus provide.

Credit or consumer reporting complaints made up the majority of all complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2023, with the agency receiving over 1 million such complaints.

Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion together accounted for the overwhelming majority of credit-reporting complaints submitted to the CFPB, with each of the three bureaus among the most-complained-about companies in the country.

In fiscal year 2022, the CFPB's enforcement actions resulted in approximately $3.7 billion in consumer relief, including matters involving credit reporting, debt collection, and unfair practices.

An Urban Institute analysis of credit-bureau data found that roughly 1 in 3 (about 32%) of Americans with a credit file have at least one debt that has been turned over to collections.

The CFPB reported in 2022 that approximately $88 billion in medical-debt collections appeared on consumer credit reports, prompting the three nationwide bureaus to remove most paid medical collections and those under $500.

The CFPB received more than 109,000 debt-collection complaints in 2023, with attempts to collect debt not owed and written notification about debt being the most common issues.

Under Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. §1681i), credit bureaus must generally complete a reinvestigation of a disputed item within 30 days, extendable to 45 days if the consumer provides additional information during the dispute.

Under Section 1692g of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, consumers have 30 days from a collector's first written notice to dispute the debt in writing, after which the collector must cease collection until the debt is validated.

Under Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. §1681c), most negative information — including collections, charge-offs, and late payments — must be removed from a consumer's credit report after 7 years; Chapter 7 bankruptcies after 10 years.

CFPB data show that credit-reporting complaints have one of the lowest monetary-relief rates of any product category, with less than 2% of complaints typically receiving monetary compensation — though many still result in corrected reports.

A Bankrate survey found that 35% of American adults — more than one in three — have never checked any of their credit reports, despite being entitled to free reports at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Since 2023, U.S. consumers have been entitled to free credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion through AnnualCreditReport.com — the only federally authorized source for free FCRA-mandated reports.

FICO says payment history accounts for 35% of a FICO Score, making it the single largest factor in the model.

VantageScore commonly weights payment history at roughly 40% in its widely used versions, a slightly larger share than FICO's classic model, according to VantageScore's published scoring methodology.

FICO lists amounts owed — which includes credit utilization — as 30% of a FICO Score, the second-largest factor after payment history.

VantageScore commonly weights credit utilization at roughly 20% in its widely used versions, a smaller share than FICO's classic model, according to VantageScore's published scoring methodology.

FICO Score 8, one of the most widely used FICO versions, uses a score range of 300 to 850.

VantageScore 4.0 also uses a 300 to 850 score range, the same scale as FICO Score 8, though the same consumer can receive different scores from each model.