What happens when you combine expensive — and often unanticipated — medical bills and overzealous debt collectors? An environment ripe for abusive, unfair collection practices. At least that appears to be the case for an operation that must pay $5.4 million in relief to consumers for allegedly mishandling credit reporting disputes and preventing individuals from exercising their debt collection rights. [More]
credit reports
Man Named God Reaches Settlement With Equifax, Finally Gets A Credit Score
By 5.29.15
You might recall a story from about a year back where a man with the first name “God” had a little dispute with credit-reporting agency Equifax, namely that the company wouldn’t recognize his moniker as legitimate. He’s now come out on top in his battle with Equifax, which has agreed he and his financial history do exist, and have granted him a shiny new credit score. [More]
Credit Bureaus Must Pay $6M, Fix Errors More Quickly Under 31-State Agreement
By 5.21.15
The three largest companies to collect and disseminate credit information for millions of Americans – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – must significantly change the way they treat disputed information on credit reports as part of a massive multi-state settlement announced this week. [More]
Class Action Suit Filed In California Over Wells Fargo’s Alleged Customer Account Abuses
By 5.14.15
A lawsuit filed earlier this month by the city of Los Angeles accuses Wells Fargo of pushing employees to engage in fraudulent conduct with regard to consumer accounts in order to meet the bank’s sales quotas. Now, one of those customers has filed his own lawsuit against the San Francisco-based bank alleging the same misconduct deceived and defrauded consumers across the country. [More]
JPMorgan Chase, Bank Of America Agree To Wipe Debt Cleared By Bankruptcy From Credit Reports
By 5.8.15
Two of the country’s largest banks are finally getting around to removing the debt consumers eliminated during bankruptcy proceedings from their credit reports, a move that puts Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase in line with federal law. [More]
Nearly 26 Million American Adults Have No Credit History
By 5.5.15
While a recent survey found that nearly 35% of consumers have never pulled their credit report, a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau points out that some of those consumer might not have anything on their reports anyway. [More]
Los Angeles Sues Wells Fargo Over Unfair Customer Account Conduct
By 5.5.15 — Updated: 9.30.16
The City of Los Angeles has filed a lawsuit against the largest bank based in the state, accusing Wells Fargo of a plethora of unfair practices including encouraging employees to open unauthorized consumer accounts and then charging those accounts phony fees. [More]
Nearly 35% Of Consumers Have Never Checked Their Credit Reports
By 5.4.15
While consumers are often urged to take advantage of the free once-a-year opportunity to request a credit report and make sure they aren’t riddled with errors, a new survey suggests many Americans simply aren’t heeding the suggestion. [More]
FICO Expands Program To Give Millions Of Consumers Free Access To Credit Scores & Reports
By 4.21.15
Millions of financially struggling consumers who work with qualified nonprofit counseling agencies now have access to free credit scores and credit reports with the expansion of the FICO Score Open Access program. [More]
Potential FICO Credit Score Changes Could Hurt, Rather Than Help Some Consumers’ Creditworthiness
By 4.2.15
The Fair Isaac Corporation – better known to consumers as FICO – is on the verge of turning the credit score game on its head with the release of a new credit-scoring approach that would consider consumers’ monthly bills, such as those for utilities and wireless plans, when determining creditworthiness. The change is purportedly intended to help consumers on the low end of the credit spectrum, but some consumer advocates are concerned that lower-income Americans could be the ones most adversely affected. [More]
Credit Bureaus Agree To Revamp Practices For Handling Errors, Unpaid Medical Bills
By 3.9.15
Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – the three largest companies to collect and disseminate credit information for millions of Americans – must undergo an overhaul of credit reporting practices as part of an agreement with the New York Attorney General’s Office. [More]
3 Ways You Could Be Hurting Your Credit Score Even If You Pay Your Bills On Time
By 3.3.15
If you pay make regular credit card payments that are well above the minimum, and no one is hassling you about outstanding bills you might assume that your credit score is getting healthier or at least maintaining its current level. But there are some mistakes that consumers don’t even realize they’re making that could be hurting their FICO numbers. [More]
More Than 50M Consumers Have Free Access to Credit Scores, But Some Don’t Know What To Do With Them
By 2.19.15
Last year the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began an initiative urging credit card issues to provide consumers with free credit scores on their monthly bills. Since then, a number of financial institutions have begun providing the information, leading more than 50 million consumers to have free and regular access to their scores. [More]
T-Mobile’s “Smartphone Equality” Targets Loyal Users With Bad Credit
By 1.22.15
If you have bad credit or no credit history, it can be tough to take advantage of the best pricing plans available from wireless companies — even if that stain on your credit report is years old. Today, T-Mobile said that subscribers with imperfect credit may now be able to enjoy the company’s $0 down-payment perk — if they’ve been loyal and responsible customers. [More]
FTC: Credit Report Errors Continuing To Linger Years After Being Found
By 1.21.15
Two years ago, a Federal Trade Commission study found a surprisingly large percentage of consumers had discovered, and had corrected, errors on their credit reports. There were also several people who believed there were errors with their reports but had not yet reached a resolution. A new follow-up study from the FTC finds that nearly 70% of these disputes from 2012 are still unresolved. [More]
Comcast Customer Says Company Pulled Credit Report Even After He Paid It Not To
By 1.15.15
When a Chicago man recently contacted Comcast to set up a new broadband account, he was told the company would have to run a credit check — or he could pay a $50 deposit to waive that requirement. But the customer claims that Comcast went ahead and pulled his credit anyway, which is why he’s now suing the nation’s largest consumer broadband provider. [More]
“Checking Your Credit Report Will Hurt Your Credit Score” And 4 Other Credit Myths
By 1.13.15
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been talking with my friends or family members about credit scores (Hey — I never claimed to lead a thrilling life) when someone would say “I’d like to check my credit report, but I don’t want to ding my credit score.” This is just one of several popular misconceptions that many people have about credit. [More]
Consumer Advocates Shine Spotlight On Too-Common Credit Reporting Errors
By 12.11.14
By now we know that credit reporting agencies are notoriously difficult to work with when it comes to fixing errors on one’s credit report. While legislators and consumers groups have long called upon credit reporting agencies to provide better service to disputing customers, little has been done to actually affect change. Now, advocates with Consumers Union are putting the spotlight on how devastating these errors can be for consumers. [More]
