How do I fix a mistake on my credit report?

Your credit file is built from data supplied by lenders and from the public judgment register, and errors in it are common. You are entitled under UK GDPR to a free statutory report from each of the three agencies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — supplied within one calendar month. Check all three, because lenders do not report to all of them and the files often differ.

What to look for and how to challenge it

• Accounts you do not recognise, which may indicate identity fraud.
• Wrong personal details — address, date of birth, spelling of your name.
• An account showing as defaulted when it was paid on time.
• Entries older than six years that should have dropped off.
• A County Court Judgment that is wrong, or one you have paid that still shows as outstanding.

Identify the exact entry, then raise the dispute in two places at once: with the credit reference agency, which must investigate and respond within 28 days, and with the original lender, which is obliged under UK GDPR to correct inaccurate personal data. Attach the evidence — receipts, statements, settlement letters, identity documents.

When they will not budge

If both maintain the data is right, add a Notice of Correction of up to 200 words to the file. Any lender searching you must be shown it. Beyond that, complain to the ICO where the issue is genuinely one of data accuracy, or to the Financial Ombudsman Service where an FCA-regulated firm supplied the data — the Ombudsman can order the firm to correct your file and award compensation for distress. Wrongly recorded judgments are dealt with by the court that issued them, either by setting the judgment aside or by certifying it satisfied.

Two things people expect that are not true. Paying a debt does not remove a correctly recorded default: it will show as satisfied but stays six years from the default date. And a low score at one agency is not definitive — each uses a different model, and what matters is the accuracy of the underlying data rather than the number.

If you find fraudulent accounts, tell the lender and the agencies immediately, report to Action Fraud for a crime reference number, and consider a CIFAS protective registration so lenders apply extra checks. And if you are still financially linked to an ex-partner through a closed joint account, apply to each agency separately for a Notice of Disassociation.