Overhaul Boosts Credit Scores of Millions of Consumers
- Written by AnnaMaria Andriotis and Josh Zumbrun of The Wall Street Journal
The credit scores of millions of U.S. consumers have risen following a broad overhaul of how credit-reporting firms handle negative credit information.
Consumers who had at least one collections account removed from their files experienced an 11-point increase, on average, in their credit scores, according to a report released Tuesday by the New York Federal Reserve. The report was based on a sample of millions of anonymous credit reports from credit-reporting firm Equifax Inc. Collections were completely removed from 8 million consumers’ credit reports in the 12 months through June, resulting in an average 14-point increase.