News & Resources

Credit report error placed woman in early grave

Dec 09, 2011 Walt Wojoiechowski

According to a recent study from the Policy and Economic Research Council (PERC), 19.2 percent of more than 2,000 consumer credit reports examined contained errors. Furthermore, 12.1 percent were found to contain mistakes that could lead to "possible adverse consequences." Rita Katz would know. The elderly woman recently attempted to apply for a credit card at The Gap, but was denied because she was listed as deceased by one of the three major credit reporting agencies, WABC-TV reports. "I think it's a glitch somewhere," Katz told the news source. "I mean, I've never been dead! I just don't know how that happened." Katz commissioned her lawyer to write a letter to "resurrect" her, but months later she was still receiving denial notices because she was presumed dead. Experian would later investigate the claim and determined that Katz's file was mixed up with that of another individual who had passed. Once the credit agency removed the incorrect items, Katz was approved for her Gap card. However, touching upon the PERC study, the news source notes that three out of every four consumer credit reports contains an error.