You’ve probably heard time and time again from financial experts, financial advisers, and maybe even just your friends and family that you should check your credit history at least once every year to make sure it contains only correct information. You may have even integrated it into your advise repertoire and advised others to do it, but have you really taken that advise to heart? Do you check your credit history once a year or even more frequently the better to catch any mistakes?

A recent study conducted by the University of Missouri at St. Louis UMSL under a contract with the FTC concluded that ample mistakes are contained in credit histories to make the previously mentioned practice of checking your credit history regularly and at least annually worthwhile. The study concluded that even on just personal information (such as birthdate, age, names, and addresses) already 12% of credit history contained errors about that. This can be especially problematic if someone with good credit is confused with another person with poor credit and their histories affect one another.

Sometimes the personal identifying information error stemmed from family members (such as father and son) having similar names or even the same name with Jr and Sr suffices. This can be a problem as well in cases well you are not getting notifications of lenders and creditors sending faulty or negative information to credit bureaus. In a way, when you check your credit history, you are also checking for errors contained in it about other persons; if everyone checked their credit history regularly, then everyone has a group is monitoring for errors both about their own credit files as well as those of others around them. In many cases, the study concluded, the source of erroneous information and entries in the credit history could not be identified or determined.

When you do find an error in your credit history, it is important to know how to fix those errors. Rest assured that it is not that altogether difficult to fix the problems, and that each credit history agency has an established protocol to go about fixing these mistakes. Generally, you go to the credit history agency’s website and find the correct address to send your complaint. You should make the correction in writing and send along any supporting documentation. Be sure to keep a copy of all correspondence you send or receive. The agencies are required to acknowledge your requests and investigate and notify you in writing of their decision.

For the UMSL study, participants who found errors in their credit files corrected them through the proper avenues, and the study administrators had the credit history agencies update the credit scores with the correct credit files. In some cases, credit scores rose by up to 40 points, illustrating the importance of spotting and correcting mistakes in one’s credit history. In many cases, a 40 point swing in credit score will affect whether one will quality for a one and what kind of terms and rates the loan has.