Credit Clarity · CFPB complaint data
Credit report complaints, by the numbers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) publishes many of the complaints it sends to companies for a response. This page counts the published complaints about credit reports received from September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026, and explains what those counts can and cannot tell you.
6,243,735 complaints about credit reporting or other personal consumer reports, received by the CFPB from September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026 and published in its database.
What these numbers are, and what they are not.
- They are what consumers reported. A complaint is a consumer’s own account of a problem. Counting complaints does not show that any credit report or company was wrong.
- They are not a statistical sample. The CFPB says its database is not a statistical sample of consumers’ experiences and is not necessarily representative of all consumers’ experiences with a product or company.
- They say nothing about your own report. A complaint count cannot tell you whether an entry on your credit report is right. Only your report and your own records can show that.
- Accurate negative information is not an error. A late payment that really happened is not an error, and a complaint is not a way to remove it.
- Company size matters. The CFPB advises considering company size and market share when looking at complaint counts: companies with more customers may get more complaints.
Which credit report problems do people complain about most?
Each complaint names one issue, chosen by the consumer on the CFPB’s complaint form.
| Category | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Incorrect information on your report | 3,715,169 | 59.5% |
| Improper use of your report | 1,300,288 | 20.8% |
| Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem | 1,175,885 | 18.8% |
| Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes | 21,353 | 0.3% |
| Unable to get your credit report or credit score | 18,391 | 0.3% |
| Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services | 7,306 | 0.1% |
| Problem with a company's investigation into an existing issue | 4,806 | 0.1% |
| Identity theft protection or other monitoring services | 537 | <0.1% |
Issue names follow the wording on the complaint form when each complaint was submitted, so similar issues can appear under slightly different names.
What does “incorrect information on your report” cover?
3,715,169 complaints (59.5% of the total) named incorrect information on a report. The consumer then picked a more specific sub-issue:
| Category | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Information belongs to someone else | 2,448,886 | 65.9% |
| Account information incorrect | 720,203 | 19.4% |
| Account status incorrect | 323,544 | 8.7% |
| Personal information incorrect | 132,159 | 3.6% |
| Information is missing that should be on the report | 46,591 | 1.3% |
| Public record information inaccurate | 24,326 | 0.7% |
| Old information reappears or never goes away | 16,077 | 0.4% |
| Information is incorrect | 3,093 | 0.1% |
| Information that should be on the report is missing | 290 | <0.1% |
How did companies respond to these complaints?
The database records how each company responded. According to the CFPB, companies generally respond within 15 days; in some cases a company reports that its response is in progress and gives a final response within 60 days. How the CFPB complaint process works.
| Category | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Closed with explanation | 3,934,325 | 63.0% |
| Closed with non-monetary relief | 1,982,588 | 31.8% |
| In progress | 321,702 | 5.2% |
| Untimely response | 4,227 | 0.1% |
| Closed with monetary relief | 893 | <0.1% |
A response category describes how a company closed one complaint. It is not a prediction of how any other complaint or dispute will turn out. “In progress” counts complaints without a final response when the data was retrieved.
The CFPB’s data marks 99.9% of these complaints as having a timely company response.
How are complaints split among Equifax, Experian and TransUnion?
Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are the three nationwide credit reporting companies. Complaints naming one of them made up 96.0% of all complaints in this period.
| Category | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Equifax | 1,976,243 | 31.7% |
| Experian | 1,835,115 | 29.4% |
| TransUnion | 2,185,059 | 35.0% |
| All other companies | 247,318 | 4.0% |
Company names in the database: EQUIFAX, INC.; Experian Information Solutions Inc.; TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
The CFPB advises considering company size and market share when comparing complaint counts. A higher count does not, by itself, show that one company handles problems worse than another.
Should you file a complaint or a dispute first?
A complaint does not replace a dispute. To correct an error, dispute it directly with the credit bureau and with the company that supplied the information. Disputing is free, and you can do it yourself.
If a dispute does not fix the problem, you can submit a complaint to the CFPB, which is also free. How to prepare one: How to File a Complaint About a Credit Report Error.
How this data was collected
Source: the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, queried through its public API on September 24, 2026. Filter: product “Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports”, received from September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026. The CFPB last updated the database on September 23, 2026.
Only totals were requested. No complaint text or consumer details were downloaded or stored.
The CFPB publishes a complaint after the company responds or after 15 days, whichever comes first, and generally updates the database daily, so counts for recent weeks can still grow. Shares are rounded to one decimal place.
The complaint data comes from the CFPB, which makes it free for anyone to use. The CFPB’s API marks the data CC0 (public domain).
General information, not legal advice. CheckDispute is not affiliated with the CFPB; the complaint counts come from the CFPB’s public database.