5 Common Credit Report Mistakes That Are Costing You Points

5 Credit Report Mistakes That Could Be Hurting You

Most people assume their credit reports are accurate — but that's not always the case. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 credit reports contain errors, and many of them go unnoticed for years.

Here are 5 of the most common — and how to fix them.

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1. Duplicate Accounts

Sometimes a creditor reports the same account twice — once under the original lender and again under a debt buyer.
Why it matters: It can double your debt load and hurt your utilization.

✅ Fix it with the Dispute Blueprint, which includes a specific letter template for duplicate tradelines.

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2. Outdated or Incorrect Personal Information

Old names, addresses, or employer info can cause your disputes to be verified using outdated data sources like LexisNexis.

✅ Use the Credit Cleanup Starter Kit to remove outdated personal info and freeze hidden data providers.

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3. Re-Aged Accounts

A debt collector may reset the “Date of First Delinquency” to make an old account look new again. That’s illegal.

✅ Learn how to identify and challenge this using Metro 2 standards in the Dispute Blueprint.

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4. Inaccurate Balances or Statuses

Your report might show:

• A balance after repossession (illegal in many cases)
  
  
• An open status on a charged-off account
  
  
• Late payments during a deferment or forbearance
  
  

All of these are disputable under the FCRA and Metro 2 format.

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5. Unauthorized Inquiries

Hard pulls you didn’t approve? These damage your score and can be removed.

✅ Grab the Hard Inquiry Dispute Kit to challenge unfamiliar or unauthorized inquiries step by step.

 

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What You’ll Need to Start

• A full tri-merge credit report (pull one here with MyScoreIQ)
  
  
• A checklist (included in our kits)
  
  
• Patience — this is a process, not a magic button
  
  

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Pro Tip: Fix the errors first, then start rebuilding with a credit builder account like AVA for clean growth.

 

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