Credit Reporting Agencies to be Supervised for First Time
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced that it will begin supervising the nation’s largest credit reporting agencies starting this fall. The big three—Experian, Equifax and TransUnion—are among the list of roughly 30 agencies. About 400 such agencies currently exist in the United States. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act gave the agency such authority.
The extent to which any changes among the bureaus will happen depends on how actively the CFPB carries out its supervision. Some possible outcomes are as follows:
The number of differences in a consumer’s credit reports across the different agencies might decrease.
- The number of disputes consumers have about their reports might decrease and the response time regarding such despites might get shorter.
- Lenders could be more confident about the accuracy of a credit report from an agency under the CFPB’s supervision.
- Consumers might get terms on loans that more closely align with their creditworthiness.
The possible outcome most-directly affecting a consumer’s wallet is #4. Because lenders are more confident about the report they receive when checking your credit, the terms you receive on a loan will be closer to what you truly deserve. Therefore, if you have excellent credit, you might receive even lower interest rates than before such supervision started. Also, if you have bad credit, negative items regarding your credit history could be more likely to show up, meaning your interest rates could be higher.
This news gives yet another reason why consumers should get their finances in good standing as soon as possible. If these outcomes do happen, consumers with good credit should benefit.
Don’t know where you stand credit wise? You should pull your credit report. If you have any questions about your credit report, give one of our certified credit counselors a call at 1.800.750.2227.