How To Battle The Credit Bureaus... And Win

Whether you’re contesting an error or combating fraud, use our guide to give yourself the best shot at success.

- Lisa Gerstner

Have you ever found yourself fuming at the credit bureaus? You have plenty of company. Among companies in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s database, the three major credit-reporting bureaus—Equifax, Experian and Trans Union—have logged the most complaints for four years running, according to a report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Most of the complaints involve hassles remedying inaccurate information on credit reports. But some are from consumers who find themselves caught in a tangle of red tape or facing an impenetrable wall of indifference. Each year, Margaret Finelt, of Richmond, Texas, gets her free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com. At the site, you are directed to each of the three bureaus. But for the past couple of years, although she’s had no problem claiming her reports from TransUnion and Experian, she’s been unable to obtain her Equifax report.

On the phone, Equifax representatives have given her a number of possible reasons: that her credit report is frozen (a freeze prevents lenders from seeing the report in response to a request for new credit in her name), that she failed to correctly answer a security question, or that AnnualCredit Report.com was having a technical issue. Margaret’s husband, Daniel, has since frozen his credit reports—and now he can’t obtain his Equifax report online. By law, a freeze doesn’t prevent you from getting your free annual credit report. In a statement to Kiplinger’s, Equifax confirmed that a credit report is available via the “online, phone or mail channel even if you have a security freeze.” The Finelts finally managed to get their Equifax reports by calling customer service and verbally answering security questions.