Most credit reports list a consumer's credit accounts and for each month of history on that account, an indication of account status (e.g. 0/30/60/90 days past due). Some credit reports also list the amount of each month's scheduled and actual payments, which can be compared with each other to discriminate between consumers who are making just their minimum payments, or more or less or none or amounts equal to the full balance.
Like other information on the credit report, these detail amounts can be incorrect, e.g. reporting that the consumer made no payment when a much larger amount was due, even if the same month still shows an "OK" account status. If a consumer is denied credit based on a report containing this incorrect information, s/he might challenge those details, and the creditor/bureau might respond by just removing the account entirely, without warning. If that account is an otherwise satisfactory long-standing account, this could produce a significant drop in the consumer's credit score. The credit bureaus do not necessarily provide a warning (e.g. in the interface where a consumer might decide to challenge those details, so s/he might make a decision informed by knowing the likely consequences of the options) in advance of this penalty being applied.
It seems like it may be contrary to public policy interests to penalize consumers for requesting accuracy in the information credit bureaus report about them.
On the other hand, creditors aren't required to report data to credit bureaus and it seems like there's some policy value in protecting creditors/bureaus' freedom to stop including some of their accounts in consumer credit reporting, even if they use that to effectively penalize consumers for requesting accuracy. Further, there is apparently no requirement for accurate communication of policies, though if this is an incorrect impression an answer or comment can hopefully correct it.
Which set of interests won? Are there any rules that prohibit creditors/credit bureaus from penalizing consumers (e.g. by removal of good information) for requesting accurate credit reporting?
While I recognize this question may also be on-topic at Law.SE, I'm posting here because this community might have more domain experts able to identify what if any rules exist on this particular topic.