B3-5.2-03, Accuracy of Credit Information in a Credit Report (07/25/2017)

For all mortgage loans (including DU loan casefiles and manually underwritten loans), the lender is responsible for reviewing the credit report, as well as all credit information, to determine that the credit report meets Fannie Mae's requirements and that the data evaluated by DU was accurate.

If a borrower indicates that any significant information in the credit file is inaccurate—such as reported accounts that do not belong to the borrower or derogatory information that is reported in error—the lender should carefully review the credit information with the borrower, then request the credit reporting company that provided the information to confirm its accuracy.

Manually Underwritten Loans

If the borrower has disputed information in their credit file, and the credit reporting company confirms that the disputed information is incorrect or incomplete and underwriting the loan needs to be completed before the credit files can be corrected, the lender cannot use the credit score(s) when manually underwriting the loan. Instead, the credit risk assessment must be based on a review of the borrower’s traditional credit history.

If there are multiple disputed tradelines or a dispute on a mortgage tradeline, the lender should obtain correspondence directly from the borrower indicating the reason for the dispute. The aspect of the tradeline–such as balance and payment history–that is being disputed is of particular interest when considering the impact to the borrower’s overall credit profile.

The lender is responsible for determining whether the borrower’s explanation is reasonable and/or whether additional documentation (such as canceled checks) is necessary to disprove the adverse information. Lenders are not required to investigate disputed medical tradelines.

DU Loans

For loan casefiles underwritten through DU, DU will indicate if the lender is required to investigate the disputed account to determine if the account belongs to the borrower and confirm the accuracy and completeness of the information reported on the account.

See B3-2-09, Erroneous Credit Report DataB3-2-09, Erroneous Credit Report Data; B3-2-10, Accuracy of DU Data, DU Tolerances, and Errors in the Credit ReportB3-2-10, Accuracy of DU Data, DU Tolerances, and Errors in the Credit Report; and B3-5.3-09, DU Credit Report AnalysisB3-5.3-09, DU Credit Report Analysis for additional information.