The Government Just Made It Harder to Fix Your Credit Report

If you spot an error on your credit report, you’re going to want to fix it fast. A mistake can cost you a home loan, a new job, or hundreds of dollars in higher interest rates.

But getting the big three credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—to actually correct their mistakes isn’t always easy.

That’s why millions of Americans have historically turned to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for help. The CFPB is the federal government’s financial watchdog. When a bank or credit bureau ignores you, a CFPB complaint usually gets their attention.

But now, the agency designed to protect you is quietly throwing up roadblocks to make complaining much harder.

Why the rules are changing

Last year, consumers filed nearly 5 million complaints with the CFPB about credit reporting issues. Instead of cracking down on the credit bureaus for making so many mistakes, the CFPB is changing its system to reduce the number of complaints it receives.

In January, the Consumer Data Industry Association, a lobbying group for the major credit bureaus, sent a letter to the CFPB asking the agency to stem the tide of complaints. They argued the portal was being abused by credit repair bots and third parties.

The CFPB listened. If you go to the CFPB’s complaint portal today, you’re greeted with aggressive new warnings.

The mandatory wait time: You can’t just file a complaint with the CFPB right away. You must formally dispute the error with the credit bureau first.
The 45-day rule: After you file your dispute with the credit bureau, you have to wait 45 days before the CFPB will even let you submit a complaint on their portal, unless the credit bureau closes the dispute early.
The legal attestation: You have to swear under penalty of law that you’ve followed these steps. If the credit bureau tells the CFPB you didn’t contact them first, the government will toss your complaint out.

What this means for your money

Consumer advocates are sounding the alarm. The National Consumer Law Center points out that there’s absolutely nothing in the law requiring you to contact a credit bureau before asking the CFPB for help.

By forcing you to jump through these new hoops, the government is essentially shielding the credit bureaus from public scrutiny. It’s a classic case of sweeping the problem under the rug instead of fixing the root cause: the massive number of errors on consumer credit reports. For more on how the agency is shifting its focus away from consumers, see Consumer Protection at Risk: What CFPB Budget Cuts Mean for Your Finances and 3 Protections That Congress Is Trying to Take From You.

If you find a mistake on your credit report, here’s what you need to do now:

Dispute it directly: Don’t wait. File a formal dispute with Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion immediately. Keep copies of everything you send them.
Start the clock: Mark your calendar for 45 days.
File your CFPB complaint: If the credit bureau doesn’t fix the error or ignores you for a month and a half, go straight to the CFPB portal and file your complaint.

They might be making it harder to get help, but that doesn’t mean you should give up. Your credit score is too important to let the credit bureaus get away with sloppy mistakes.