Wrong Report

Equifax has made a major mistake. As Money reports, the credit bureau mistakenly sent incorrect credit scores to lenders for weeks this past spring. As you might have guessed, this mistake had major ramifications for consumers.

Equifax said a coding error had resulted in it sending wrong credit scores to lenders. The Wall Street Journal reported that the error happened between March 16 and April 2, and millions of consumers were likely impacted. The incorrect scores were sent to lenders such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Ally. Not only were the scores wrong, many were off by a lot — some of the false scores were off by 25 points.

Equifax said that the “vast majority” of scores were not affected and that it has fixed the coding issue. The bureau also said it is working with consumers and lenders to remedy the blunder. Of course, for consumers impacted, the damage has already been done. A 25 point dip in your credit score is enough to have your mortgage request declined, get rejected for a credit card and more.

Needless to say, now is a good time to check your credit report errors. You can check each one from the three credit bureaus as many times as you want from now until the end of 2022. After that, you can check them once per year for free. Once you access your report, look for any errors. If you spot any inaccuracies, report them immediately. And don’t forget, you can easily check your TransUnion credit report with SavvyMoney anytime.