Here Are The Big Changes That Could Be Impacting Your Credit Score

For generations, consumers have been beholden to their credit scores whenever they need to buy a new car, secure an apartment lease, or engage in any number of other common activities.

While there are ways to boost the score, many situations beyond a person’s control can have a devastating impact, thus reducing or eliminating any chances of securing a loan in the future.

Fortunately, some of that might soon be changing.

Good news for folks with medical debt

A major factor in many low credit scores is medical debt, which is clearly different than most other types of debt because people generally don’t choose to incur huge bills from emergency surgery or other type of expensive treatment.

It appears that the major credit reporting bureaus are now recognizing this fact and are offering some relief.

Now that agencies have determined that people with medical debt are generally as worthy of credit as those without it, here’s how they’ve responded:

• After paying medical debt in collections, it is now removed from credit reports.
• It now takes one year (as opposed to the prior six months) for such debt to impact credit scores.
• Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion no longer include medical collection debt under $500.

Even more positive changes to the system

There are a lot of factors that go into creating a credit score, and they can vary from one agency to another. Some recent developments, however, seem to be making it easier for responsible consumers to boost their scores without making too many painful sacrifices.

For starters, more on-time payments — from rent to utilities to cellphone plans — are now being reported to credit bureaus.

Additionally, some agencies offer services (like the “Experian Boost” you’ve probably seen commercials for) that help find new information that will often add points.

Chris Agee February 23rd, 2023

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