There’s no law or policy that establishes that children must reach a minimum age before the national credit bureaus begin compiling a credit file on them. (That’s why children can be the victims of identity theft—because fraudsters can use their identities to open bank accounts and credit cards in their names.) So what if a […]
Category Archives: Debt Collection and Harassment
Having debt on your credit report is a fact of American financial life. But what happens if the same debt is listed multiple times on your report? As the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) has explained, this is not a “harmless error.” That’s because credit bureaus don’t recognize all these entries as duplicates showing the […]
Consumers are used to Equifax scrutinizing their credit activity and using the information to generate credit reports and credit scores that impact so much of their lives—from the interest rates credit card companies charge to the ability to get a job. And studies by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found that, unfortunately, many consumers […]
For all of the hoopla there has been about how ChatGPT and other Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications can increase efficiencies and create terrific new content, there’s another darker side to AI. It can also help fraudsters and identity thieves be more effective, too. Let’s review four ways that AI scams can impact your credit score. […]
At the height of the Covid pandemic, the Department of Education gave all those who held federal student loans an automatic forbearance. Debtors were not charged interest on their loans and were not required to repay them during the pandemic. However, interest on student loans will begin to accumulate again, starting September 1, 2023, and […]
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. […]
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 […]
If you haven’t yet, read part 1! Though tradelines—reports of outstanding debts—can considerably impact a consumer’s credit report and credit score, a report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reveals that debt collection reporting is uneven and suspect. Updating the information on a credit report often does not depend on the debt resolution. Instead, […]
According to a report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), debt collectors provide vast amounts of data to the three national credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. The bureaus then use the debt collectors’ data in calculating the credit reports (and credit scores) of 220 million consumers. And concerningly, the CFPB has identified critical issues […]
In our last post (click here to read part 1), we looked at the dramatic increase in consumers’ complaints against the national credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. But, of course, we need to do more than know the number of complaints we need to pay attention to. We also want to examine the types […]