Beginning in July 2022, the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, announced they will remove approximately 70 percent of medical collection debt from their credit reports.
Specifically, paid medical collection debt will be the debt no longer included on consumer’s credit reports. The hope behind these efforts is to allow consumers more time to address their medical debt with their healthcare providers and insurance companies prior to the debt being reported.
Credit Karma has announced that it has increased users’ free access to their credit reports. The company will now offer two of the nation’s three largest credit-reporting agencies and updating them on a weekly basis. This move comes just in time for those making New Year’s resolutions to improve their personal finances this year. The new service will also be helpful for those who plan to take out a mortgage in 2015, by allowing them to closely monitor changes to their credit information.
Credit Karma has added credit reports from Equifax in addition to reports from their longstanding relationship with TransUnion. Credit Karma offers members access to the following credit information: credit card utilization, payment history, derogatory remarks, age of credit history, total accounts and credit inquiries. Access to this information is empowering for consumers, not only for financial education but offering them transparency with their credit reports and scores.
Click here to read more on this story.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2014/12/credit-karma-report-score-equifax-efx-mortgage.html
If you have any questions on this topic or are in financial crisis and considering filing for bankruptcy, contact an experienced Miami bankruptcy attorney who can advise you of all of your options. As an experienced CPA as well as a proven bankruptcy lawyer, Timothy Kingcade knows how to help clients take full advantage of the bankruptcy laws to protect their assets and get successful results. Since 1996 Kingcade & Garcia, P.A. has been helping people from all walks of life build a better tomorrow. Our attorneys’ help thousands of people every year take advantage of their rights under bankruptcy protection to restart, rebuild and recover. The day you hire our firm, we will contact your creditors to stop the harassment. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.
As a result of a class-action lawsuit settlement, the three major credit-reporting bureaus have made efforts to properly update credit reports after consumers have filed for bankruptcy. When you file for personal bankruptcy protection and you have debts that are discharged as a result, your credit report is supposed to be updated to show that you no longer have those debts to pay. Although the bureaus are working to ensure consumers’ credit reports are more accurate, consumers should be aware that their discharged debts will not immediately disappear from their credit reports. Prior to the class-action lawsuit, the bureaus were frequently failing to update consumers’ reports, making it hard for them to be approved for credit after filing for bankruptcy. An incorrect credit report not only incorrectly reflects their debt-to-income ratio, but it also makes it hard for consumers to improve their credit score.
The class-action lawsuit started as multiple lawsuits in 2005 and 2006. The case said that the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, were issuing credit reports stating that consumers were delinquent on loans and other forms of debt that had been eliminated through bankruptcy. Some plaintiffs in the case claimed that the three credit bureaus did not look into the errors, even after they had filed a complaint. Although the lawsuit was thrown out in the appeals court, improvements to the bureaus’ bankruptcy reporting procedures were already underway. A $45 million financial settlement in the suit was approved by the trial court, but later thrown out by the appeals court because the court claimed some plaintiffs in the case stood to benefit more than others.
If you are in a financial crisis and are considering filing bankruptcy, contact an experienced Miami bankruptcy attorney who can advise you of all of your options. As an experienced CPA as well as a proven bankruptcy lawyer, Timothy Kingcade knows how to help clients take full advantage of the bankruptcy laws to protect their assets and get successful results. Since 1996 Kingcade & Garcia, P.A. has been helping people from all walks of life build a better tomorrow. Our attorneys’ help thousands of people every year take advantage of their rights under bankruptcy protection to restart, rebuild and recover. The day you hire our firm, we will contact your creditors to stop the harassment. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.
Consumers are struggling to keep their credit scores up in this economy, and it appears the credit reporting agencies are not making it any easier. The three major credit agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion produce billions of credit reports per year and of this mass amount of reports, an estimated 25 percent contain errors. The errors can be as minor as an incorrect name or birth date.
Consumers are filing complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, but changes to the system are slow to come. The complaints are citing a breach of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The large amount of errors on consumers’ credit reports is especially troubling, as these are not only accessed by companies issuing credit cards, but also by banks, employers, insurers and many others.
The credit agencies reportedly hired a number of foreign workers to produce credit reports and pay them as little as $0.57 per hour. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been made aware of this issue and is expected to take major steps in addressing the problem sometime this month. It is likely that lawsuits will be filed against some of the credit agencies due to this problem. Consumers are urged to keep a close eye on their credit reports and to report any errors to the Federal Trade Commission.
If you are in a financial crisis and are considering filing bankruptcy, contact an experienced attorney who can advise you of all of your options. As an experienced CPA as well as a proven bankruptcy lawyer, Timothy Kingcade knows how to help clients take full advantage of the bankruptcy laws to protect their assets and get successful results. Since 1996 Kingcade & Garcia, P.A. has been helping people from all walks of life build a better tomorrow. Our attorneys’ help thousands of people every year take advantage of their rights under bankruptcy protection to restart, rebuild and recover. The day you hire our firm, we will contact your creditors to stop the harassment. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia, P.A. at www.miamibankruptcy.com.
