My credit report showed a closed account as open for almost a year

This happened about three months ago when I was checking my free annual report from AnnualCreditReport.com. I saw a store card I closed back in 2022 was still listed as 'open' and 'in good standing'. It wasn't hurting my score, but it was wrong and I knew it could mess things up later. I called the store's customer service first, but they said it was the credit bureau's job to fix. So I filed a dispute online with Experian, which took maybe 15 minutes. I had to upload a copy of the letter they sent me when I closed the account. It took them about 30 days to investigate and finally update it to 'closed by consumer'. Has anyone else had a simple account status error take that long to correct? What's the fastest way you've found to get a fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_river2mo ago

Wait, you think 30 days is a long time? I had a similar thing with an old car loan and it took two full billing cycles, like over 60 days, for them to sort it out. Honestly, your timeline sounds pretty standard for the credit bureaus, they just move slow. I've found calling them directly after you file the online dispute can sometimes nudge it along, but not always. It's frustrating but I guess that's just how it works.

price.jake2mo ago

Yeah, @the_river is right about the timeline being normal, even if it feels slow. I read a whole article once about how the bureaus have 30 days to investigate, but that clock can restart if the lender sends new info. That's why it can stretch out. My friend had a medical bill error that took almost 90 days because the hospital kept sending the same wrong paperwork back to Experian. It's a real grind.

abby_king221d ago

Jumping in here to gently nudge something - you mentioned filing the dispute with Experian, but the store card error could be showing up on all three bureaus, not just one. I had a similar thing with an old department store card that I closed in 2021, and when I checked my TransUnion report for a rental application, it was still showing open there even after Experian fixed it. The fastest way I've found is to pull all three reports at once from AnnualCreditReport.com (you know, the legit free site) and file disputes with each bureau separately if the error shows up. It's a pain, but some lenders only report to one or two bureaus, so you might be chasing a ghost if you only fix one report.