Different dates reported to CRAs for some accounts

[Anonymous]

Some of my accounts are reporting different dates across all three reports.  I.e. One account's payment history starts as far as three months later in EQ. I also noticed that a 60 day late payment (which should be falling off my report soon) is reporting COMPLETELY different dates on every single report.  As far as 6 months earlier in one of them!

Does this kind of misinformation matter to the CRAs? Or does it not matter?

[RobertEG]

The reporting requirment is that what is reported must not knowingly be inaccurate, not that it must be accurate.

A creditor can, for example, choose to report an account as 60-late to only one CRA and not the others, or as only 30 late when it has also reached a higher level.

Consistenty between the three CRAs would certainly be preferable, but is not required.

If an account was not, in fact, at least 60-late in a given reporting month, then a dispute could result in correction to a lower level.

However, just as likely is that a creditor may produce the desired "consistency" in reporting by adding new, legitimate and previously unreported derogs.

[LianaCCB]

I'm sure you could get the bureaus to update the open dates - if it's a recent account it could make a difference if any lenders note that you have a new account. You could use the correct date to show that it has seasoning, and the account has been open for awhile. In the grand scheme of things it probably won't make a huge difference. Especially once you've had the card for several years, the 4-6 month difference won't be a deal breaker.

But if you have any documentation from when the account was opened/established, you could send that in to the bureaus and ask them to update it.

As far as the late, the date could impact the time that it's on your report so it could be worth looking into. Plus, if you dispute it they may remove it before the scheduled date.