YOUR ADVOCATE -THE EMPOWERED CONSUMER- A few highlights
Change Is Coming-(Consumer Reports Jan- 2015) -
Credit-scoring models are like snowflakes: There area lot of them and no two are exactly alike. FICO alone sells 65 versions. Because of that variation and because a lender might not use the same credit scores you obtain be aware of the range of your scores, and follow their trend over time. JohnUlzheimer, a credit expert at the website Credit Sesame and formerly of FICO and quifax, recommend these other points when managing your score:
Change Is Coming-With Your Help
To expedite corrections on credit reports, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has successfully pushed for changes to the computer system that shares consumer dispute information. And this year the agency is expected to issue rules that better outline credit-reporting agencies' and furnishers' responsibilities in correcting credit-report errors. Consumers Union, the advocacy armof Consumer Reports, supports those efforts, as well as legislation to require credit-reporting agencies to provide free "real" credit scores that lenders use (as opposed to "educational" scores) with the free annual credit reports that consumers already are entitled to get through AnnuaICreditReport.com. Other useful legislation that might be reintroduced in the Senate would allow
courts to stop credit-reporting agencies from giving inaccurate information and would require creditors to review and consider all documentation provided by the consumer. Other pending bills could help credit scores by requiring the removal of paid or settled medical debt from credit reports. New versions of Vantage Score and the FICO score, FICO 9, don't factor in that type of debt.
