Quick Answer
A consumer report is a report containing information about an individual that is collected and provided to lenders, creditors, employers, landlords, or other decision makers in order to evaluate eligibility for employment, housing, credit, insurance, financing, and other opportunities. Common examples include credit reports, background check reports, tenant screening reports, and insurance reports.
If you’ve ever been denied something important and couldn’t figure out why, there’s a good chance that a hidden mistake in a consumer report is to blame. Research shows that over one-third of Americans find at least one error in a consumer report over their lifetime.
Take a deeper dive by reviewing the legal help availalbe for specific types of consumer reporting errors.
What is a Consumer Report?
In simple terms, a consumer report is a file compiled by a consumer reporting agency (CRA) which contains information about you and is used to make important decisions about your life. The most common consumer reporting agencies are credit bureaus, background check companies, tenant screening companies, or insurance background companies.
Depending on the type of report, it may include your financial history, background information, public records, ownership data, professional license information, bank account data, or other details collected from various sources.
Who uses consumer reports to make decisions?
- credit card companies
- lenders (mortgage companies, banks)
- debt collection agencies
- insurance providers (home, auto, medical)
- employers conducting employment screening
- rideshare and delivery job platforms
- landlords who need tenant screening for residential rentals
- background screening reports for security clearance
- civil record checks
- criminal background checks
- specialized data reports used in modern fintech data analysis
There are also some newer consumer reporting products which provide specialized insights to help businesses evaluate consumers who may not have traditional credit histories. These products include data such as:
- income insights
- cash flow analysis
- cash flow patterns
- account connection activity
These innovations can contribute to expanded credit access, but they also increase the importance of data accuracy.
Because so many decisions depend on consumer reports, even a small error can affect your opportunities, finances, and reputation.
Why Consumer Reports Are Important
Most people think a consumer report is just another term for a credit report, but in reality there are multiple types of these reports, each with the power to make or break big life moments. Knowing the full scope of consumer reports available helps you can’t catch errors and challenge unfair outcomes.
Here are 5 big reasons why understanding your consumer reports matters:
- Opportunities are at stake. Job offers, rental approvals, and loan terms can hinge on what’s in your reports.
- Errors are more common than you think. A single mistake can unfairly cost you housing, employment, or insurance.
- You have rights – but they only count if you know to use them. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you protections, but you have to be the one to act when something’s wrong.
- Some reports you’ve never heard of still affect you. Specialty consumer reports like insurance or check-writing histories can quietly shape decisions without you realizing it.
- Fixing mistakes can take time. The earlier you catch errors in your consumer reports, the better your chances of resolving issues before they derail your plans.
Understanding these reports isn’t just about curiosity – it’s about empowerment. The more you know, the less likely you are to be blindsided by inaccurate or outdated information.
Who Creates Consumer Reports
Typically, consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) create consumer reports. Examples of common CRAs include companies like:
- Credit bureaus- Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion
- Background check companies- like Checkr, Sterling, and HireRight
- Tenant screening companies like TransUnion SmartMove, TurboTenant, and RentSpree
- Insurance background companies like LexisNexis CLUE report
The data that CRAs gather, sort, and put into consumer reports is used by employers, landlords, insurers, and lenders to make decisions about you. The information is often life-changing, so when it’s wrong, the consequences can be devastating.
You have rights under federal law and the companies that create these reports have legal obligations. If they fall short of their responsibilities, the law allows you to get corrections and hold them accountable.
Consumer Report Types at a Glance
| Report Type | Common Uses | Consequences of Errors |
|---|---|---|
| Credit Report | Credit, lending and housing decisions, setting interest rates | Loan denials, higher interest rates |
| Employment Background Check | Hiring and ongoing employment decisions | Lost job opportunities, deactivations |
| Tenant Screening Report | Rental apartments and housing | Housing denials and higher deposits |
| Insurance Report | Underwriting and setting premiums | Coverage denials and higher premiums |
| Medical Information Report | Insurance underwriting | Policy denials and increased rates |
| Check-writing History | Banking decisions | Inability to open accounts |
| Investigative Consumer Reports | Security clearances, sensitive positions | Employment, clearance, and licensing issues |
| Prescreened Consumer Reports | Marketing and credit offers | Inaccurate targeting, missed offers |
Below, we explain each type of consumer report in more detail, including who uses it, what information it contains, and how reporting errors can affect decision-making outcomes.
What Are the Different Types of Consumer Reports?
These 8 main types of consumer reports aren’t just boring files sitting in some database, they are game-changing documents, shaping decisions about your access to jobs, housing, credit, and loan products, and determining your insurance premiums and interest rates.
Understanding what’s out there and how each consumer report works gives you the power to protect yourself from costly mistakes and unfair denials.
1. Credit Reports
These are the most common types of consumer reports. Compiled by the three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – these reports include your payment history, credit accounts, bankruptcies, and more.
Credit reports affect whether you can get a loan, what interest rate you’ll pay, and even some job opportunities. Errors like mixed credit reports, reporting fraudulent accounts and loans following identity theft, or including inaccurate post-bankruptcy info can cost you thousands.
2. Employment Background Check Reports
Employers often run a background check during the hiring process when you apply for a job and as a “check-in” throughout your employment in certain careers (including rideshare, delivery, and healthcare).
An employment background check report may include your work history, education, criminal records, and even your credit history. Incorrect employment background check results can block you from career opportunities.
3. Tenant Screening Reports
Landlords use these rental history reprots to decide if you’re a reliable renter. These reports are primarily used for residential housing rentals, but can also be used to assess applicants in the vacation rental market as well.
These consumer reports may include prior rental history, eviction records, and credit information. Inaccurate tenant screening can lead to wrongful denials and lost housing opportunities.
4. Insurance Reports
Insurers may review your insurance background check before offering coverage or setting interest rates. An insurance consumer report may include claim history, drivers license records, traffic violations, and more. Errors here can lead to unfairly high premiums or coverage denials.
5. Medical Information Reports
These consumer reports, often compiled by a company called MIB (Medical Information Bureau), track your medical history for insurance underwriting purposes. If incorrect, they can lead to higher premiums or policy rejections.
6. Check-Writing History Reports
Consumer reporting agencies like ChexSystems compile these consumer reports, which track your check-writing history, overdrafts, and bank account closures. An error in your check writing history report can prevent you from opening a new bank account.
7. Investigative Consumer Reports
Used in situations like security clearances, investigative consumer reports focus on your character, reputation, and lifestyle. They often involve interviews with people who know you. Errors can be deeply damaging to your reputation and opportunities.
8. Prescreened Offers
Credit card and loan offers you receive in the mail often come from prescreened lists generated by consumer reporting agencies. While less personal, they still involve data about your credit profile, and errors here can signal deeper reporting issues.
Any of these 8 types of consumer report can also be classified as an FCRA consumer report because each is regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which gives you clear rights to protect the accuracy of your information.
How to Fix Errors in Consumer Reports
If your consumer report contains errors, don’t wait for the problem to fix itself. Left unchecked, these mistakes can haunt you for years, showing up every time you apply for a loan, rental, job, auto financing, security clearance, insurance product, and more. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to dispute errors in any consumer report.
Learn how to tackle specific consumer reporting errors on our practice pages.
Steps to disptue errors
- Review your report- conduct a detailed review to identify and clearly mark all errors
- Find evidence- documentation is the key to a winning claim. Gather all of the documents you have that support your dispute.
- Write a dispute letter- be very clear in using the letter to explain that you are disputing information in your report, identifying the specific information in dispute, why that information is wrong, and what supporting evidence you are submitting to back up your disptue.
- File your dispute- each consumer reporting agency will have a method for filing a dispute. Follow the requirements and provide all of the requested information. If you are given the option to send your dispute through the mail, we recommend this method using certified mail, return receipt requested.
- Track your dispute- the companies have 30 days to investigate and respond. Stay in control and lock down the dates by filing your dispute through certified mail.
- File a lawsuit- escalation to a lawsuit may be necessary if your dispute is ignored, if the false infomation is wrongly “verified” by the CRA, if the errors continue, or if you’ve suffered harm.
Work with a consumer protection attorney to walk you through the entire process from finding errors to fixing them- and filing for compensation.
Legal Rights: Consumer Reports and The FCRA
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was designed to protect you by ensuring the information in your consumer reports is accurate, complete, and up to date, and that access to your consumer reports is authorized and limited to the intended purpose.
The FCRA regulates how information can be collected, shared, and used. Companies can’t just pull your reports without a permissible purpose, and if there’s an error, you have the right to dispute it.
Your Key Rights Under the FCRA
- The right to limit who can access your information. A company generally must have a permissible purpose before obtaining your consumer report. Consumer reporting agencies are also required to follow procedures designed to protect your privacy. These rules help ensure that sensitive information is only used for legitimate business purposes.
- The right to see what’s being reported about you. This right is especially important because consumer reports can contain mistakes. Common issues include mixed file errors, outdated records, inaccurate criminal background checks, and errors contained in an investigative consumer report. Even one error can have serious consequences, including a loan denial, job rejection, or housing denial.
- The right to understand negative decisions. In some situations, a company that relies on a consumer report may be required to provide an adverse action notice explaining why a decision was made and identifying the reporting agency involved. The most common example of this notice involves decisions to fire, deactivate, or not hire someone due to information in a background check report. An adverse action notice must be sent to this candidate/employee.
- The right to challenge information in your reports. Consumer reporting agencies are only supposed to include accurate information in your reports. If they get the details wrong, mix you up with someone else, present the data in a misleading way, leave out important information, don’t update files, report expunged or sealed records, or any number of other errors, you have a right to dispute the information and have it removed.
When Should You Contact a Consumer Protection Attorney?
When you are dealing with consumer reporting errors, you have the ability to challenge them on your own, and many times people find success doing so. However, there are times when working with a consumer protection attorney may be the best move. Consider contacting a lawyer if:
- your dispute is ignored altogether
- you do not get a response within 30 days
- your dispute is investigated, but the information is falsely verfied as accurate
- your dispute is investigated and the information is corrected, but the errors return
- your dispute is investigated and the information is confirmed as an error, but is never updated
- you are harmed by the error- this includes financial, professional, reputational, mental and emotional harm
Types of Consumer Reporting Errors a Lawyer Can Help With
- background check errors
- bankruptcy reporting errors
- credit reporting errors
- debt collection harassment under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA)
- deceased reporting errors
- unauthorized bank charges under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA)
- credit card fraud and billing disputes under the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA)
- identity theft recovery
- mixed credit reports
- insurance background check errors
Contact Consumer Justice Law Firm
The team of experienced consumer protection attorneys at Consumer Justice Law Firm has forced stubborn companies to correct records they swore were accurate, restored peace of mind to people who thought their reputations were permanently damaged, and helped clients recover millions in compensation for emotional distress, lost opportunities, and financial harm caused by false consumer reports.
When your name, reputation, and future are on the line, don’t just hope for justice, get justice.
Contact Consumer Justice Law Firm today for a free consultation.
FAQs
What is a consumer report?
A consumer report is a file containing information about you which is used to make important decisions about your life, including whether you can access credit cards, loans, mortgages, auto financing, insurance products, jobs, security clearnances, and more.
Who creates consumer reports?
Consumer reporting agencies create consumer reports. These agencies are typically private, for-profit companies that gather, sort, match, and compile the information into a report and sell it to other companies for use in decision making. Examples include credit bureaus, background check companies, tenant screening companies, and insurance background companies.
What information is included in a consumer report?
Depending on the specific consumer report, it may include financial, payment, and account history; credit, debt, and asset information; employment and education history and verifications; professional licensing and clearances; criminal history, sex offender status, and watchlist status; and more.
How many types of consumer reports are there?
There are many types of consumer reports because they can be increasingly specialized in the data they provide or the niche purpose they serve. However, there are eight main types that consumer should be aware of.
Can errors in a consumer report be corrected?
Yes. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you a right to accuracy in your consumer reports and every company that produces reports should also have a dispute process for challenging and correcting errors. If that process fails or you suffer harm from errors, you have the right to pursue a lawsuit.
What rights do consumers have under the FCRA?
The FCRA gives you the right to have accurate consumer reports, to dispute errors, have errors corrected, file a lawsuit if needed, seek compensation for harm, and have the company that caused the harm pay for your legal bills when you’re successful in disputing errors.
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