The pages of Alison McElhinney's credit history contained a few surprises when she looked at her credit bureau files recently.

The law aimed to make it easier for consumers to quickly learn about mistakes in their reports and to get them corrected. But nearly one-third of the 133 credit reports reviewed by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group contained errors serious enough to jeopardize job, loan or credit applications.

"We want to alert consumers that it's still far too easy for credit bureaus to get bad information," said Daniel Pontious, executive director of Maryland PIRG. The group said 70 percent of the reports it reviewed contained errors.