Fixing Mistakes on Your Credit Report
🛠️ A wrong credit record is your problem to fix, and your right
Credit files contain mistakes more often than most people expect. A default you already paid can sit there marked unpaid, an account that belongs to someone with a similar name can land on your file, a payment you made on time can show as late, or a listing that should have dropped off years ago can still be dragging your score down. Any of these can cost you a loan, a rental, a phone plan or a better interest rate, and the credit reporter will not fix a problem it does not know about. The good news is that you have a clear legal right to have wrong information corrected, it costs nothing, and the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020 sets firm rules the credit reporters must follow when you ask. This guide is about the fix: how to spot an error, how to lodge a correction request with Centrix, Equifax and Experian, what the reporter must do and how quickly, how to escalate to the Privacy Commissioner if it is not sorted, and how to protect your file so the same trouble does not return.
Our checking your credit report guide covers getting your report for free and understanding your score and the entries on it. This guide is the next step: what to do when something on that report is wrong. If you have not yet pulled your files, start with the checking guide, then come back here to fix anything that should not be there.
First, get all three reports for free
You cannot correct what you cannot see, and an error often sits on only one of your files. New Zealand has three credit reporters, and lenders do not all report to the same one, so request the free report from each before you go hunting for mistakes.
| Credit reporter | Where to request your free report |
|---|---|
| Centrix | centrix.co.nz |
| Equifax | mycreditfile.co.nz |
| Experian | experian.co.nz/consumer |
You never have to pay to see or correct your own credit information. Looking at your own file is a soft enquiry that lenders cannot see and that does not affect your score, so there is no downside to pulling all three and challenging anything wrong. A paid product only buys speed or monitoring, never the right to access or fix your file.
🔍 The common errors to look for
Most credit report problems fall into a handful of categories. Knowing what they look like helps you find them fast and gather the right proof before you lodge a correction.
The usual suspects
- A default that was actually paid. The debt is settled, but the listing still shows it as owing. It should be marked as paid.
- A default that should never have been listed. A default can only be recorded once the overdue amount is $125 or more, it is more than 30 days late, and the lender has tried to recover it. A listing for less than $125 does not meet the rule.
- An account that is not yours. A loan, card or default that belongs to someone else has been attached to your file, often through a similar name or date of birth.
- Wrong repayment history. A payment you made on time is recorded as late in your month by month repayment history, which can quietly weigh on your score.
- Identity mix-ups. Two people with similar details get their records blended, so someone else's accounts or defaults appear under your name.
- A default not marked as paid or settled. You cleared it, but the file has not been updated, so it still reads as an unpaid default.
Since 1 October 2019, a payment default can only be listed if the overdue amount is $125 or more. If you find a default recorded for less than that, it does not meet the threshold and you can ask for it to be removed. A genuine default that you later pay is not removed early; it stays for five years from when it was listed, but it must be updated to show as paid.
Paid does not mean gone, but it must say paid
One point trips people up. Paying a legitimate default does not wipe it off your file straight away. It stays for five years from the date it was listed. What paying does is change how it reads: a default marked "paid" looks far better to a lender than one marked unpaid, so if you have cleared a debt and the file still shows it owing, that is a correction worth chasing.
Why errors creep in
Credit reporters hold data on millions of New Zealanders, fed to them by lenders, telcos and utilities. Mistakes happen when a lender reports the wrong status, when two similar identities are matched incorrectly, when an account is not updated after you pay, or when a listing is simply left on past its retention period. None of this is your fault, and none of it is yours to just live with.
📮 The correction and dispute process
The Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020 sits under the Privacy Act 2020 and governs how credit reporters collect, hold, use and disclose your credit information. It gives you the right to ask for a correction and sets out what the reporter must do when you make that request. Here is the process, step by step.
Step by step
- Lodge a correction request with the credit reporter that holds the error. Contact Centrix, Equifax or Experian directly, in writing where you can, and clearly describe what is wrong and what it should say.
- Attach your evidence. Include the proof you gathered, a receipt, a bank statement, a settlement letter or identity documents.
- The reporter must investigate. It checks with the credit provider that supplied the information and, where appropriate, must take steps to correct it.
- Your item is flagged as disputed. While the reporter is checking, it must mark the entry so anyone who sees your file knows the item is under dispute.
- You get a decision. If the reporter needs longer than 20 working days to decide, it must let you know and tell you why.
- If it is fixed, the record is corrected. The reporter can also pass the correction to the other reporters if the same error sits on their files.
Under the Code, a credit reporter that needs more than 20 working days to make a decision on your correction must contact you and explain why. In practice that makes 20 working days the natural point to follow up. Keep a record of the date you lodged your request and its reference number so you can chase it if that marker passes with no word.
If the reporter will not make the correction
Sometimes the reporter investigates and decides the entry is right. You still have options.
- You must be told why. If the correction is not made, the reporter has to give you its reasons.
- You can add a statement of correction. You can ask for a note recording that you requested a correction to be attached to your file. It is then included with future reports, so anyone reading your file sees your side.
- You can escalate to the Privacy Commissioner. If you believe the reporter has it wrong, complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz, which oversees the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020 and can investigate.
Save every correction request, reference number, email and reply. If an item is not fixed, or the same error reappears later, your records are what resolve it quickly and what support a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner. A well-documented dispute is a strong dispute.
Protecting against recurrence after fraud
If the error on your file came from fraud or identity theft, fixing the individual listing is only half the job. You also want to stop new false entries appearing.
- Ask for a free suppression on your file. If you have been, or fear you are about to be, a victim of fraud, you can ask a credit reporter to suppress (freeze) your file. While it is frozen, it cannot be accessed, which makes it far harder for anyone to open credit in your name.
- One request can cover all three. With your consent, one reporter can forward the suppression to the other two, so your file is frozen everywhere.
- It is free, and reversible. A suppression is a protection, not a paid product, and you can lift it when you next need to apply for credit yourself, then reinstate it.
🔢 Real-World Examples
Here is how fixing a credit report plays out for four New Zealanders in common situations.
Situation: Priya pulls her free Equifax report before applying for a car loan and finds a $340 telco default from last year. She paid it eight months ago, but it still shows as unpaid.
Steps she takes:
The default is not deleted, because a genuine default stays for five years from when it was listed. But updating it from unpaid to paid is a real win: lenders treat a paid default very differently. If the debt had been under $125, Priya could instead have asked for it to be removed entirely, because it would not have met the listing rule.
Situation: James checks his Centrix file and finds a $2,100 personal loan and its repayment history that he never took out. There is another man with the same name and a similar date of birth, and the account has been merged onto James's file, pulling his score down.
Steps he takes:
When two people share a name and rough date of birth, the fastest fix is to give the reporter details that clearly separate you, your exact date of birth, address history and identity documents. This lets the investigation confirm the account is not yours and unpick the merged records.
Situation: Tania disputes a $600 default she is sure is wrong. The credit reporter investigates but decides the listing stands and tells her why. She still has strong evidence it is an error and will not let it sit.
Her escalation path:
If a reporter will not make a correction, you are entitled to reasons, you can attach a note to your file so future readers see your side, and you can take the matter to the Privacy Commissioner, who oversees the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020. A documented dispute with evidence is what makes that escalation effective.
Situation: Rangi checks his file and spots two entries that look too old: a hard credit enquiry from an application he made five years ago, and a default that was listed six years ago. Both look past their retention periods.
Applying the retention rules:
Sources
Figures and processes in this guide were verified in July 2026 against: the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (privacy.org.nz) and the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2020, for the correction and dispute process, the 20-working-day decision marker, the requirement to flag disputed items, statements of correction and complaints to the Commissioner; Consumer Protection (consumerprotection.govt.nz) and govt.nz on checking and correcting your credit report; and the three credit reporters, Centrix (centrix.co.nz), Equifax (mycreditfile.co.nz) and Experian (experian.co.nz/consumer), for free reports, retention periods and suppression. The $125 minimum default amount has applied since 1 October 2019; defaults are held for five years from listing and credit enquiries for around four years.
Related tools and guides
- How to check your credit report for free
- Identity theft protection
- Debt consolidation loans
- Credit score impact calculator
- How debt collection works
- Building Inspection Reports, a related guide in the same area.
- Reading a LIM Report, a related guide in the same area.
🎯 Test Your Knowledge
Complete this 10-question quiz to check what you have learned about fixing credit report mistakes
Situations like yours. The 4 situations worked through above sit alongside 32 more about debt you cannot pay, each with the sums shown.