Breaking News.
For decades, consumers have been complaining about the challenges with disputing items with the credit reporting agencies. Finally, the credit reporting giants TransUnion, Equifax and Experian announced that they have agreed via a settlement with the New York Attorney General’s Office to overhaul their dispute investigation process. Finally “reasonable investigation” will really mean reasonable.
This is the first major change in more than a decade and it has some very promising dynamics, so let’s break them down.
- First, the bureaus are going to staff and train employees to read the information provided by the consumer and have power to make an accurate decision based on the data. Prior to the settlement, the bureaus took the word of the data furnisher most every time regardless of the paperwork provided by the consumer.
- Next the bureaus will impose a 6 month waiting period for medical debt to be reported to a consumer’s credit report. This will allow for any discrepancies to be resolved ahead of time. Also, once a medical debt has been paid, it will be removed from the credit report!
- Last, the “Big Three” as they are known, will post to their paid websites that consumers can access their credit for free through www.annualcreditreport.com. They will also have to provide an additional report if they experience a change in their report after initiating a dispute. This may be the most significant change we have seen in regards to credit reporting procedures. All of these changes will go into effect over the next 6-36 months as this is a massive undertaking by the bureaus. It should prove to be extremely helpful for consumers and companies to expedite and complete investigations.
Source: Credit Repair Resources