If you’ve ever had the misfortune of discovering inaccurate information on your consumer report (also known as a credit report), you likely know the significant negative impact this kind of inaccurate information can have on a person’s life. From causing higher interest rates on their mortgage or car loan, to giving a landlord a reason to decline their apartment application, to leading some employers to say “No, thank you” to a job application, consumer reports wield an immense influence over our lives.

That’s why inaccurate, derogatory information appearing on our consumer reports is so problematic. But equally problematic has been the response from the consumer reporting industry, including consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and smaller background-screening companies, to repeated attempts by the federal government and the plaintiffs consumer rights bar to get them to improve their procedures for eliminating inaccurate information they report or include on consumer reports. One kind of particularly pernicious inaccurate information is information that is facially false or logically inconsistent, such as information claiming someone has a loan that was first disbursed years before they were born, or that a child has a mortgage.