Category Archives: Credit Reports

Credit Reports, Credit Scores, Debt Collection and Harassment, Legislation, Medical Debt, News

Credit Bureaus Removing Some Medical Debt from Credit Reports

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

In May 2022, the three national credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, removed unpaid medical debts of less than $500 from American consumers’ reports. According to the government’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), this move will impact approximately 22.8 million consumers. While more needs to be done, this is a major step in the right direction.

The Impact of Removing These Medical Debts

For those with medical debt of less than $500 on their credit reports, the CFPB estimates that their credit scores should improve by an average of 21 points. A 20-point increase can reduce upfront mortgage fees by 0.25% of the loan’s balance; for a $250,000 mortgage, that’s a $625 reduction due at the signing. Higher credit ratings can help people obtain credit cards and mortgages and receive lower interest rates. A better credit score can even help someone rent an apartment or get a new job.

What’s Left to Be Done

For half of all consumers, eliminating these small debts will eliminate all medical debts from their credit reports. However, it’s important to recognize that not all medical debt will be eliminated. There is increasing pressure from Congress to remove all medical debt from credit reports. For now, larger amounts (more than $500) will be on a credit report if they’ve been unpaid for after a year.

What You Should Do If You Have Had Medical Debt

In theory, the credit bureaus should have already removed the small unpaid medical debts from credit reports. They should also have removed information relating to paid medical debts, regardless of the amount.

But one-in-five Americans have at least one error on a credit report. Therefore, everyone with any history of medical debt should review all three credit reports (i.e., obtain a report from each of the bureaus) to see if their records have been updated. At the same time, they should review it for any other errors, especially any suggestion that they may be the victim of identity theft.

If you discover errors on your credit report, it is worth it to demand the credit bureaus fix the report.

The Credit Report Law Group Can Help

To do that, consider contacting an attorney specializing in helping consumers fix their credit reports. Better than the “credit repair companies,” an attorney who specializes in credit work can help repair your record and work to end debt collection harassment. And they’ll help you receive compensation for the damage you’ve suffered due to reporting mistakes. Call us today.

Background Check Errors, Credit Report Errors, Credit Reports, Identity Theft, News

New Report Reviews the Biggest Data Breaches of 2022 (and so far, for 2023)

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

It’s astonishing how frequently revelations of a data breach have hit the news. But these events are so frequent they may get less media coverage than they warrant. That can hurt consumers—because if you’re not aware of breaches, you won’t know that your data has been compromised and take steps to protect yourself from identity theft. Therefore, it’s worth checking out this report on the biggest breaches revealed in 2022—and some of the biggest from 2023 so far.

US Department of Education

In March 2022, a hack meant 820,000 students in New York had their information stolen. The data theft included demographics, academic information, and economic profiles.

Apple and Meta

Though it wasn’t revealed until 2022, in 2021, Apple and Meta surrendered some customers’ data to law enforcement officials. But it turned out the data recipients weren’t truly law enforcement but hackers who had accessed police systems.

Cash App

In April 2022, the cash delivery app reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had been breached in 2021, with 8.2 million customers’ data impacted.

SuperVPN, GeckoVPN, and ChatVPN

Theoretically, VPNs offer users a more secure method of using the internet. But that wasn’t the case for the 21 million customers of SuperVPN, GeckoVPN, and ChatVPN; a breach of those companies resulted in their customers’ names, billing details, emails, and passwords being sold on the dark web.

Shields Health Group

A March 2022 breach of Shields Health Group, a Massachusetts medical insurance provider, exposed 2,000,000 people’s data—Social Security numbers, home addresses, medical information, etc. A class action lawsuit has now been filed.

Uber

While the company didn’t reveal it until 2022, Uber has hacked in 2016. The hackers obtained the data of an estimated 57 million of their rideshare customers. But instead of revealing the hack, the company’s data officer paid the hackers $100,000, hoping to keep it quiet. It didn’t work. And federal prosecutors have subsequently convicted the official for obstruction of justice and other charges.

Neopets

After the user information for 69 million users of the Neopet game was sold, it wasn’t all fun and games. The compromised data included names, addresses, and birth dates.

If you have been a victim of a data breach, contact an attorney who specializes in helping consumers fix their credit reports, debt defense, and debt collection harassment. Attorneys can help you repair your record. And they’ll help you receive compensation for the damage you’ve suffered due to reporting mistakes. Call today.

Background Check Errors, Credit Report Errors, Credit Reports, Credit Scores, Debt Collection and Harassment, Identity Theft, Legislation, Mixed Case File, News

A Record Year of Complaints for the Three National Credit Bureaus

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

Credit Bureaus are the worst. That isn’t just hyperbole. That’s the finding from a new U.S. PIRG Education Fund analysis. Confirming what you already knew, PIRG reviewed complaints made to U.S. financial firms—regarding everything from student loans to credit cards. And PIRG concluded that the “Big 3” credit bureaus received more complaints than any other financial firm in 2022.

According to PIRG’s report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau received 800,394 complaints in 2022, a record number that nearly doubled from the previously record-breaking 496,000 complaints filed in 2021. But when it comes to complaints regarding credit reporting, those went up even more—96% in just one year.

Further, PIRG concluded that “complaints against the … Big 3 credit bureaus (TransUnion )#1)), Equifax (#2) and Experian (#3)) ranged above all over complained-about companies in 2022, not only in the credit reporting products category but all categories of complaints.”

The most frequent complaints in 2022 were:

The fact that so many were dealing with incorrect information on a credit report is a reminder that credit errors are common. But the fact 150,000 complained about how poorly their issues have been dealt with validates what we knew: Credit Bureaus ignore most complaints.

Indeed, while 90% of the complaints to the Big 3 were closed with some explanation—which is taken as a sign that a complaint was individually reviewed and investigated—only 40% percent of complaints actually resulted in any changes to someone’s consumer credit report. The vast majority were not helped even though errors on a credit report can change someone’s life, from impacting interest rates for credit cards and loans to getting a job.

That’s why getting real counsel working on your behalf is essential. “Credit repair” companies just don’t get the job done for their clients.

Instead, contact an attorney specializing in helping consumers fix their credit reports and related issues—such as debt collection harassment. Attorneys can help you repair your record. And they’ll help you receive compensation for the damage you’ve suffered due to reporting mistakes. Call today.

Background Check Errors, Credit Report Errors, Credit Reports, Credit Scores, Identity Theft, Mixed Case File, News

CFPB Orders Portfolio Recovery to Pay More than $24 Million (Part 2)

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

In March 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced an order against Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA), one of the nation’s largest debt collection agencies. In our previous post, we addressed how PRA had violated a previous order and provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In this post, we’ll explore how this order affects impacted consumers.

Financial Compensation

PRA must pay at least $12.8 million to consumers harmed by the company’s illegal practices. Additionally, PRA must pay another $12 million in penalties, which will be deposited into the Bureau’s victims’ relief fund.

The $12.8 million is designated for consumers who, between March 7, 2016, and September 9, 2020,

PRA must submit a plan for compensating impacted consumers no later than 60 days after the order’s effective date.

Consumers harmed by the firm’s illegal actions but won’t otherwise receive adequate recovery may apply for compensation through the Bureau’s fund.

PRA Must Improve Operations

In addition to the financial compensation, PRA must also take steps to prevent itself from committing future violations.

PRA must end its practice of pursuing debts without sufficient evidence that the debt exists; instead, PRA must obtain the necessary contract or other documentary evidence to establish the consumer’s indebtedness.

PRA must also improve its process for handling complaints, particularly ensuring that those who have debts due to identity theft or fraud are not harassed for these fraudulent debts.

PRA must promptly respond to consumers’ disputes about wrong information and end the practice of providing errant information to credit bureaus.

Moreover, PRA must maintain specific business records for the Bureau, and the court retains jurisdiction over PRA, so the Bureau can more quickly address future violations.

If you’ve been a target of Portfolio Recovery or other debt collectors, you don’t have to fight this alone. Instead, contact an attorney specializing in helping consumers fix their credit reports, debt defense, and debt collection harassment. Attorneys can help you repair your record. And they’ll help you receive compensation for the damage you’ve suffered due to reporting mistakes. Call today.

Background Check Errors, Credit Report Errors, Credit Reports, Credit Scores, Identity Theft, Mixed Case File, News

CFPB Orders Portfolio Recovery to Pay More than $24 Million (Part 1)

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

In March 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it was ordering Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA) to pay millions to consumers. The Bureau stated that PRA had been engaging in numerous violations of law. And what made the order even more surprising is that PRA had already been fined in 2015 for other violations—so the debt collector had not only failed to clean up its act, but it doubled down with even more illegal activity, harassing consumers for debts, filing meritless lawsuits, and more.

Given that the Virginia-based PRA is one of the largest debt collectors in the nation, with a 2021 reported net income of more than $183 million, we’re going to delve into this order—in this first post by identifying PRA’s violations and then, in the following post, we’ll look at the steps PRA must take in response to this new order.

PRA’s 2015 Violations

In September 2015, the Bureau announced it was taking action against PRA for several illegal practices. These included:

  • Attempting to collect on an unsubstantiated or inaccurate debt
  • Filing suit against debtors without evidence to back up the claims, trusting they’d win because consumers wouldn’t defend the suits
  • Filing suit for debts after the statute of limitations had expired
  • Falsely claiming attorneys reviewed the debts and concluded PRA should sue the consumers
  • Making false statements to consumers regarding the existence of a debt

The Bureau ordered PRA to end these practices and pay $19 million in refunds to consumers and a penalty of $8 million. PRA also had to stop collecting another $3 million in pending actions.

PRA’s 2023 Violations

In the 2023 order, the Bureau reported that PRA violated the 2015 order and other Fair Credit Reporting Act provisions.

As in the past, PRA continued to attempt to collect debts without evidence of the debt’s validity. PRA continued to sue for debts, even though claims were time-barred by the statute of limitations.

According to the Bureau, “on at least tens of thousands of occasions,” PRA failed to resolve consumers’ disputes within the required period.

Additionally, PRA failed to conduct reasonable investigations if consumers said that the debt owed wasn’t theirs—it was the result of fraud or identity theft. PRA did not inform consumers about the result of investigations, and it did not supply documentation when requested by the consumers.

In our next post, we’ll discuss what the Bureau’s enforcement action means for consumers.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Credit Reports, Mixed Case File, News

Free Credit Reports Have Been an Invaluable Tool for Consumers—But They Could Be Ending

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

In April 2020, as the nation began to shut down because of the COVID pandemic, the three national credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—jointly announced they would allow Americans to get free credit reports every week. However, there are indications that the bureaus may end the policy by the end of this year. Consumer advocates are concerned.

Previously, consumers could only get a free report once a year at annualcreditreport.com. But the bureaus realized the havoc that the pandemic was bringing on the nation’s economy, and they knew it would be important for consumers to monitor credit. The bureaus initially said that weekly complimentary access would continue for a year. Then, as COVID dragged on, the bureaus continued to extend the policy.

As it stands, weekly reports will be free until December 2023. The question now is if they will be after that since, in May, President Biden is expected to announce an end to the pandemic state of emergency.

Some, including elected officials in Congress, have argued that the bureaus should be permanently required to provide free credit reports.

As one advocate put it, “You should have the right to audit information that a company is selling without your consent to make sure that it’s true. That’s why credit reports should always be free.”

And the data is clear. The bureaus’ credit reports do, in fact, often have errors. For example, they may contain outdated information about outstanding debt collection efforts or consist of “mixed files”—when someone else’s information is included in a person’s profile.

These mistakes aren’t mere petty inconveniences. Instead, they can have a dramatic impact on consumers’ lives. It can impact people’s ability to get loans and change the interest they pay on credit cards. It can affect their ability to get a mortgage, rent a home, or get a job. It can mean they’re harassed for debts they no longer owe.

Every consumer should get those free reports and regularly review them for accuracy. If there are errors, you don’t need to shrug helplessly and move on. The credit bureaus are required to correct misinformation. It’s just not that easy to get them to do it.

That’s why, if you do see any errors or other issues on your credit report, contact an attorney who specializes in credit matters. Attorneys can investigate the issue, represent your claim, and help you repair your record. Further, they’ll be able to help you receive compensation for the damage you’ve suffered due to the bureaus’ mistakes. Call today.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Credit Report Errors, Credit Reports, Credit Scores, Mixed Case File, News

New Report Shows Progress in the Fight Against Credit Bureau Errors and More—But We Aren’t Done Yet

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

On January 3, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new report assessing the state of the nation’s credit reporting system, particularly the work of the three national credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Compared to last year’s dismal report, the results are encouraging.

While there is still a ton of work to be done, the bureaus seem to have taken some steps in the right direction. The complaints, lawsuits, and more positively affect the individual consumers and the system as a whole.

In last year’s report, CFPB described how consumers were outraged by the behavior of three national credit bureaus. The consumers complained that they had many problems with their credit reports, from mixed files—when other people’s information was on their record—to information that suggested paid-off debts were still due and more. And the bureaus did next to nothing when consumers complained. Most of the time, consumers just received a generic, boilerplate response to their complaints—even though a substantive response is usually required by law.

By contrast, in 2022, the CFPB found that the bureaus have decreased their reliance on generic replies, and, instead, most consumers are now getting substantive responses. In September of last year, consumers received a response tailored to their issue for more than 50% of the complaints that were closed or where relief was given.

Another positive sign: More consumers received help from the bureaus. TransUnion reported that it provided some relief for the majority of complaining consumers. Experian said it had given some relief to nearly half of those who complained.

In years past, the bureaus had claimed they had helped so few consumers because their complaints lacked merit. Now it is more difficult for them to continue to make that claim.

While progress has been made, if half of the consumers were helped last year, that still means half did not get the relief they deserved. And even for those who were helped, the CFPB said they often endured a frustrating process, having to complain to multiple entities to get the necessary corrections.

That’s why, if you do see mistakes on your credit report, get help having your information corrected. Contact an attorney who specializes in representing clients like you. A lawyer can not only help you repair your record, but they can also help you obtain compensation for any damages you sustained.

Credit Report Errors, Credit Reports, Identity Theft, Mixed Case File, News

Amateur Golfer Gets Invited to the Masters: Mistakes Like That on Rare on a Golf Course But Common on a Credit Report

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

Scott Stallings, a Georgia real estate agent, was amazed to open his mail and discover that he’d been invited to play in the Masters, one of the world’s most prestigious golf tournaments. While Stallings is an amateur golfer, once he’d recovered from the shock of receiving the invitation, he and his wife Jennifer realized the invitation was a mistake. It should have gone to another Scott Stallings, a professional golfer on the PGA tour.

Stallings (the realtor) reached out to Stallings (golf star) on social media to tell him about the mistaken invite. At first, Stallings (golf star) and his wife, also named Jennifer, thought it was a prank, but they eventually realized that Stallings, the real estate agent was a real Good Samaritan.

Once Stallings (golfer) finally got the invitation, the next thing both families should have done was check their credit reports.

While a misaddressed tournament invite is exceptional, having a “mixed file,” where someone else’s information shows up in another person’s credit report, is very common. Studies have shown that it is one of the main errors people find in a credit report.

Mixed files aren’t always the subject of an innocent mistake. Sometimes it can be a result of identity theft. But no matter the cause, the error can dramatically impact someone’s credit score since it brings another person’s income and other economic activity into their own. Thus, it can lower someone’s score because credit bureaus will add credit card debt and other holdings to determine their overall financial liability.

Mixed files can also be a concern elsewhere. The Social Security Administration has also mistakenly combined earning records of people of the same name.

Resolving a mixed file—convincing the credit bureau of an error—can be complicated. That’s especially true in a case such as this, where not just one but both spouses share the same name.

If you see any mixed file errors or other mistakes on your credit report, the credit bureaus mustany mixed file errors or other mistakes on your credit report, the credit bureaus are required to fix them. But if you need help having your information corrected, contact an attorney who specializes in representing clients like you. A lawyer can not only help you repair your record, but they can also help you obtain compensation for any damages you sustained.

Credit Report Errors, Credit Reports, Mixed Case File, News

T-Mobile Data Breach May Hit Almost 37 Million Customer Accounts

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

It wasn’t yet Groundhog Day, but news at the end of January felt all too familiar. T-Mobile announced that it has been investigating yet another major data breach. Initial reports are that this hack has potentially compromised the information relating to 37 million accounts, roughly a third of T-Mobile’s customers.

This is the second time in less than two years, and the fifth time since 2018, that T-Mobile announced it was the victim of a major data hack. The 2021 case, relating to 76 million customers, resulted in a class action suit that was settled. But notably, one of the settlement terms was that T-Mobile agreed to improve its data security significantly. T-Mobile committed to spending an additional $150 million on information security in 2022 and 2023, above and beyond what it had previously budgeted for. Well, if that happened, security experts and customers alike are saying that there wasn’t enough of an improvement.

One other concern: this breach included information for both prepaid and postpaid accounts. So customers using prepaid phones (sometimes called “burner phones”) to protect their identity may be stunned to realize that their information, too, may have been compromised.

In all likelihood, T-Mobile will be facing yet another class action lawsuit. Eventually, impacted customers may be eligible for compensation—such as credit monitoring and perhaps a small amount of cash.

But if you are (or were) a T-Mobile customer concerned that your data may have been compromised in this latest data breach, there is more than you can do to protect yourself. You can start by getting a free credit report and adding fraud alert notices to your accounts at the three major credit bureaus. You should also watch for any signs of identity theft, whether on your credit reports or your existing accounts.

If you do see any errors (hack-related or otherwise) on your credit report, the credit bureaus are required to fix them. But if they aren’t doing so, and you need help correcting your credit information, contact an attorney who specializes in representing clients like you.

A lawyer can not only help you repair your record, but they can also help you obtain compensation for any damages you sustained.