KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Banks use credit scores, so do insurance agents and even employers. But if you don't know what's on those reports, you could be in for a shock because the chances are your credit report is wrong, KMBC's Jim Flink reported.

Flink talked with a woman who sued one of the credit bureaus and won. A judge limited what she could say about the case. The woman, who asked only to be identified as Annie, should have had a great credit score. She paid off a house and her car. But according to the credit bureaus, Annie did not even exist. Instead, she and another woman with horrible credit were made into the same person.

"It was embarrassing, frustrating," Annie told Flink.

Annie said that she did not even know she had a problem until she applied for a home improvement loan with her bank of 25 years. The bank pulled up her credit report online.

"There were all these bad debts -- Sears, Fingerhut -- for $2,500 and $3,300," Annie said.

Flink reported that there was a total of $44,000 in bad debt from businesses Annie said she had never heard of.

"And I said, 'Oh my gosh. Those are not mine.' And she said, 'It's on your credit report,'" Annie said.

Almost immediately, Annie went online, as directed by the credit agencies, to try to set the record straight. She faxed and phoned to no avail because to the credit agencies, Annie did not even exist, Flink reported.

"And I said, 'No, no, no, you have to understand that's not me. You have someone else with the same name,'" Annie said.

Flink reported that the names were same, they were both from the same state, born the same month, only a year apart, and their Social Security numbers were two digits off. To the credit bureaus, the two were the same person.

Annie said she tried to point out the error.

"The reply was, 'That's what it says. You must be wrong,'" Annie said. "And I said, 'How can we fix this?' And she said, 'I can't. Is there anything else I can do for you?'"

"It's like you are guilty until you prove you are innocent," said Donna Perkins of Kansas City Credit Services.

Perkins said she sees mistakes on most credit reports, and she is frustrated with the credit system.

"Their records are supposed to be 100 percent accurate at any given time," Perkins said.

But according to the group, The Access Project, 79 percent of all credit reports have an error. One in four is so incorrect that it affects a person's credit score, and there's no quick fix.

"Working with the credit bureaus directly is like pulling teeth. You don't get to talk with a real person, or if you do, you don't know who you're talking with. They never return calls," said Randy Kent, of National Mortgage Company.

There are three big credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Flink said the companies sell a lot of the reports to third parties.

"It's frustrating for us. It's frustrating for the customers. You can call the credit bureaus and tell them they've got it wrong -- the customer can have a receipt in their hands and say they've paid it, and have evidence -- it's not good enough," Kent said.

Congress created several laws to help consumers, but few seem to work, Flink reported. It's left people like Annie little choice but to sue.

"They allowed me to believe it was identity theft, that someone had stolen a credit card," Annie said.

In reality, the credit bureau just had the records all wrong, Flink reported.

"Well, basically, they didn't care if they had the right person. They just wanted the money," Annie said.

Flink reported that Annie rebuilt her credit record from the ground up.

"I had to send them a copy of my Social Security card as proof that I existed," Annie said.

Annie told Flink that she now checks her credit report monthly.

"I'm never going to trust them, not ever, not completely," Annie said.

Flink said people should check their credit reports, all three of them, at least once a year. If there's a problem, immediately file objections in writing with the credit bureaus, and call until you get someone who will help. If none of that works, seek help from a professional credit service.

On The Internet:

Credit bureaus -- Experian, Equifax, TransUnion

Federal Trade Commission

Fair Credit Reporting Act

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act

Online Solution for Complete and Accurate Reporting

Kansas City Credit Services

MyFICO.com