Dem. Representative Maxine Waters introduced the Fair Credit Reporting Improvement Act of 2014 yesterday and I'm hoping with a passion it passes. The benefits are phenomenal!!! I'll summarize some of the main items below.
There are roughly 20 reporting changes she wants to improve in order to help millions of Americans obtain better mortgage, auto and student loan rates:
- Shorten the time negative information remains on a credit report from 7 years to 4 years.
- Remove all debts from credit report that has been settled or paid.
- Erase Private Student Loan Defaults for borrowers who have made 9 consecutive on-time payments – which typically gets them out of default; this provision is already available with Federal Student Loans.
- *My Fav* Prevent companies from using an applicant's credit as a means of separating the ‘good' candidates from the ‘bad'.
- Force creditors to maintain all documentation about the debt they are reporting for as long as it remains on the credit report so that consumers can check for accuracy and completeness during this time.
There are definitely some perks to this proposal; however we know how long it takes for something to get passed don't we? Fingers crossed; we definitely need this one!
