Credit usage, payment behavior, and the accuracy of consumer credit files

Through intensive interviews, examination of credit reports, and rescoring of corrected credit files, the researchers consider household characteristics, major life events, financial resources, and payment habits as they study the integrity of credit-bureau data, vulnerability to error, and results of disputes filed with the major credit bureaus. Credit usage and management are found to vary widely within demographic groups. Vulnerability to error and outcomes of disputes depend primarily on the credit record itself. Consumers with moderate credit scores are more likely than those with very high or low scores to see significant improvement in their records when errors are corrected.