Chase reporting something false on your credit?

Who Chase is and what it reports

Chase is the consumer banking brand of JPMorgan Chase. The company says its Consumer & Community Banking business serves 80 million individuals, families and businesses. Through Chase, it offers credit cards, checking and savings accounts, mortgages and home equity lines, and auto financing.

Most of those products can show up on your credit report. Card, auto and mortgage accounts are typically reported to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, usually every month. A lender that reports this way is a “furnisher” of information under the FCRA. When a checking account is closed with a negative balance, a bank can also report it to a deposit screening agency such as ChexSystems or Early Warning Services, which can keep you from opening an account elsewhere.

Because Chase reports so many accounts for so many people, a single processing error, a missed payment posting or a fraud claim handled badly can follow a person across every lender that pulls their file.

Chase’s record with regulators on debt sales

In July 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 47 states and the District of Columbia announced action against JPMorgan Chase over its credit card collection practices. The CFPB found that from 2009 to 2013, Chase sold debts to third-party debt buyers that were inaccurate, already paid or settled, discharged in bankruptcy, not owed or otherwise uncollectable, and that its sale files often had missing or wrong information, including payment status and the amount owed. The CFPB also found that Chase used robo-signed sworn statements in collection lawsuits.

The order required at least $50 million in consumer refunds, a $30 million civil penalty to the CFPB and $106 million to the states. Among other things, Chase had to stop collecting on more than 528,000 accounts and ask the three major credit reporting companies not to report the related judgments.

Those findings are about practices from more than a decade ago, not about your file. But they show how a card balance can travel, inaccurately, from the original lender to a debt buyer and onto your credit report.

Errors Chase accounts commonly cause

• Late payments that were not late. A payment posted to the wrong account, an autopay that Chase failed to run, or a month covered by an agreed hardship plan or forbearance can still be reported 30 or 60 days late.
• Identity theft accounts. A card opened in your name by someone else stays on your report because Chase “verified” it as yours.
• Wrong balances after charge-off. A card charged off and sold, settled or paid continues to show a balance owed, sometimes alongside a collector reporting the same debt.
• Bankruptcy errors. Debts discharged in bankruptcy still reported as past due or with a balance.
• Paid loans shown open. An auto loan or mortgage paid off or refinanced still reported as open, active or delinquent.
• Deposit account reporting. A disputed overdraft or a fraud loss on a checking account reported as money you owe.

How to dispute a Chase error

You can and should tell Chase directly. But the dispute that protects your legal rights is the one you file with the credit bureaus.

1. Pull all three reports. Get your Equifax, Experian and TransUnion reports through AnnualCreditReport.com and save dated copies. Chase may report differently to each.
2. Dispute with each bureau reporting the error. Use the bureaus’ own dispute channels. See our guides to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Explain exactly what is wrong and attach proof: statements, payment confirmations, a payoff letter, a hardship or forbearance agreement, a bankruptcy discharge, or an FTC identity theft report.
3. Optionally dispute with Chase too. A direct dispute can sometimes get a quick fix. But Chase’s duty to investigate a direct dispute (15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a)(8)) cannot be enforced by a consumer lawsuit.
4. Keep everything. Save confirmation numbers, letters, upload receipts and the results each bureau sends you.
5. Check the result. The bureau generally has 30 days to finish (§ 1681i(a)(1)). If Chase “verifies” information you proved wrong, that is the time to call a lawyer.

Why the bureau dispute matters. When a bureau receives your dispute, it must notify Chase (§ 1681i(a)(2)). That notice triggers Chase’s duty under § 1681s-2(b) to conduct a reasonable investigation, review the information you sent, and correct, delete or block anything inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable. Consumers can sue to enforce that duty. They cannot sue over Chase’s general accuracy duties under § 1681s-2(a).

Your FCRA rights

• Furnisher investigation (§ 1681s-2(b)). After a bureau dispute, Chase must investigate and report the results back, and correct or delete what it cannot verify.
• Bureau accuracy and reinvestigation (§§ 1681e(b), 1681i). The bureau that keeps reporting the error after your dispute may be separately liable.
• Identity theft blocking (§ 1681c-2). With an identity theft report, the bureaus generally must block fraudulent information within four business days. Chase also has identity theft duties under § 1681s-2(a)(6), but those are enforced by regulators, not by private lawsuits.
• Obsolete information (§ 1681c). Most negative items cannot be reported after seven years.

What you may recover

If Chase or a bureau negligently violated the FCRA, you may recover actual damages, which can include credit denials, higher interest rates and emotional distress, plus attorney’s fees and costs (15 U.S.C. § 1681o). If the violation was willful, you may recover actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages as the court allows, and fees and costs (§ 1681n).

Get a free case review before your deadline

An FCRA claim generally must be filed within two years after you discover the violation and no later than five years after it occurred (15 U.S.C. § 1681p). If Chase is reporting something false and a bureau dispute did not fix it, gather your reports, your dispute letters and the results, and request a free case review. FCRA Attorneys has offices in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, and files FCRA cases in federal court nationwide, directly or with local counsel on contingency. There is no fee unless we win.

Questions about suing Chase

Can I sue Chase over my credit report?

Possibly. Chase is a furnisher of credit information. The FCRA lets you sue a furnisher under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b) if, after you dispute through a credit bureau, it fails to reasonably investigate and correct inaccurate information. A complaint made only to Chase, not through a bureau, generally does not create that right.

Chase sold my charged-off card. Why does it still show a balance?

Once a creditor sells a debt, it no longer owns the balance. Its tradeline generally should show the account as sold or transferred with a zero balance, while the buyer reports any amount it claims. If both report a balance, the same debt may be counted twice. Dispute it through the credit bureaus with proof of the sale or payoff.

What does it cost to hire FCRA Attorneys?

Nothing up front. We handle FCRA cases on contingency, so there is no fee unless we win. The FCRA also allows a successful consumer to recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the company under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n and 1681o.

How long do I have to sue Chase?

Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681p, an FCRA lawsuit generally must be filed within two years after you discover the violation and no later than five years after the violation occurred. Acting early also preserves records and dispute results.

Related reading

• How to Dispute Credit Report Errors With Equifax, Experian and TransUnion
• How to Remove a Late Payment From Your Credit Report, and When You Can't
• Charged-Off Account Still Showing a Balance? When It's Accurate and When It's Not
• Do You Still Have an FCRA Claim After the Error Was Fixed?

Sources

• JPMorgan Chase: About us (Consumer & Community Banking serves 80 million individuals, families and businesses)
• Chase.com: consumer products (credit cards, checking, savings, mortgages and home equity, auto financing)
• CFPB press release: CFPB, 47 States and D.C. Take Action Against JPMorgan Chase for Selling Bad Credit Card Debt and Robo-Signing Court Documents (July 8, 2015)

Updated November 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.