“Obviously this is a serious situation. I’m going to get our security and forensics teams involved”, were the words of Equifax’s Vice President (Corporate Communications) on being contacted on a recent case, which made quite a buzz on social channels. The case involved a Maine-based woman who received credit reports for more than 300 US citizens in her email, instead of getting her own credit report, the one that she had requested.

The incident signifies a major lapse on the part of Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting agencies in the US entrusted with the task of maintaining the financial data of US citizens; data that contains their names, social security numbers, dates of birth, current and previous addresses, bank and loan account numbers; information that is confidential and should not leak under any circumstances.

The Misery Doesn’t End There

Instances such as the above are not the only ones that citizens face when dealing with credit reporting agencies. The credit bureaus have often been criticized for their convoluted processes, due to which a number of citizens have had to wait for months before their credit reports get fixed. If such is the state of affairs with one of the supposedly ‘most competent’ credit rating agencies in the country, then the prospects for the common man, who usually has little or no understanding of credit score calculation, are indeed grim.

Corrective Measures Taken by the Bureaus

The three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – are working towards a solution to eliminating the flaws and issues in credit reporting and dispute resolution processes. One of the decisions taken by the bureaus in this direction is hiring trained employees instead of relying on the automated system, thereby enabling the review of supporting documents that were earlier being blindly rejected by the automated system.

The bureaus have also decided to overhaul their approach towards the treatment of medical debts on consumers’ reports, allowing citizens a 6-month waiting period to resolve issues pertaining to medical bills, which otherwise would negatively reflect on their credit reports.

How Credit Repair Companies Can Help

The above-mentioned steps are a few amongst many, which the bureaus have decided to implement in the next 18 months to 3 years’ time-frame. This, however, doesn’t mean that the citizens do not have an option to tackle the issues pertaining to their credit reports, at present.

Credit repair companies offer an array of services that not only help citizens to identify and rectify inaccuracies in their reports but also provide expert guidance to help people maintain a healthy credit score. Credit repair experts, with an in-depth knowledge of federal and state laws, help people to resurrect their financial profiles.

Should you wish to learn more about how you can improve your credit report, please feel free to connect with our team of consultants. We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.