Credit reporting changing for the Better?  OUTSTANDING!

Considering the fact that consumer advocates have long sought fundamental improvements to the credit scores of millions of people within the United States, the three largest credit-reporting agencies in the country – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have agreed to change how credit records are managed – as well as making the process of filing and settling disputes easier by providing a waiting period before medical debts will be reported.

The credit-reporting agencies use data collected from millions of customers to create credit scores which influences whether anyone obtains a loan and the amount of interest paid on such loans.

Announced Monday, the new changes allows anyone to contest the items listed in their credit reports while allowing them to obtain additional information regarding the disputes, as well as instructions on what to do if they happen to dislike the answers they receive from officials. And to improve upon accuracy, there is a window period of 180 days before medical debts can be reported – a waiting period that allows insurance payments to be done.

Also, the three major agencies accept to delete former credit reports that have been listed in medical collections paid or being paid by insurance companies.

The three largest credit reporting agencies are also working behind the scenes to deliver quality dispute resolution services with consumers and also help victims of identity theft and frauds. And in this light, the agencies are cancelling tickets and fines among other debt reports that do not directly come from contracts or agreements with consumers.

These changes will allow for transparency and easy navigation when people deal with bureaus that handle their credit reports; and a working group that will regularly review dealings to ensure consistency and that data collected is applied uniformly to every consumer will be formed under the agreement.

Although these changes will start to be implemented in the next few months, they came after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman negotiated with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion for several months; and other attorneys general continue to hold dialogue for more agreements ahead.