Credit Issues: What You Need to Know

The Impact of Credit Report Errors

Many credit reports contain inaccuracies that can harm your credit rating, leading to rejections when you apply for loans, insurance, even a job. Often the result of simple human error, they can be caused by anything from a clerical error to a computer glitch in which your file is mixed with that of someone with a similar name.

Always examine your report very carefully for errors and be sure to get them corrected as soon as you possibly can. I experienced this first hand, years ago, when I was in the military. When I arrived at my first duty station, I was anxious to open a bank account and spend all of that hard-earned pay that accumulated in boot camp. Everything went smoothly until I couldn't get an ATM card because my credit report showed that I had filed for bankruptcy. I was only 18! The lesson was, mistakes really do happen on credit reports, even those with only one entry.