Mindy Leisure Director of Rescoring Services On July 1, 2022, some positive changes took effect regarding medical collection practices. First, all paid medical collections started falling off credit reports, and second, collection agencies were required to wait one year before reporting a medical debt to the credit bureaus. This was to give the consumer a chance to pay the debt before … Read more
Thinking about co-signing a loan for someone or being a co-borrower on a loan with someone? There are several things to consider before undertaking either of these as each has different responsibilities attached to them and both can have adverse effects on a credit score if the loan is not handled correctly by the primary … Read more
Last week the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced approval of FICO 10T (released January 2020) and Vantage 4.0 (released fall 2017) scoring models. Once rolled out, these will replace the older scoring models used today and that have been used for the last 20 years. According to the FHFA these new models will make … Read more
Starting this month consumers with student loans can start applying for the Student Loan Forgiveness Program. This program is for federally held student loans only and does not include private student loans. Individuals who make less than $125,000 and married couples making under $250,000 are eligible for up to $10,000 in forgiveness. If the individual … Read more
One of the more frustrating aspects regarding credit reports is finding what one believes to be duplicate accounts. If the same account is reporting to all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union) more than once then that can mean the credit scores are taking a double hit. If the account in question is derogatory in … Read more
A “Rescore” is updating information on a credit report at the bureau level in an expedited manner. It is not credit repair, and it is not something the borrower can do on their own. The changes made through a rescore would eventually organically update at the bureau level but that can take 30+ days or … Read more
With the stimulus checks that have circulated in the last few years and people staying home more because of the Pandemic, credit card debt shrunk drastically. People were able to pay balances down and even save some money. Unfortunately, it seems that with inflation at the level it is, credit card debt is now at … Read more
Trigger Leads are something that seems to be more prevalent and worrisome over the last few years. It would be common for Advantage Credit to get calls and/or emails once or twice a month regarding this practice but lately it has been several times a week. So, what is a mortgage trigger lead? When a … Read more
As the result of a report issued at the beginning of March 2022 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), starting in July 2022 there will be some major changes to credit reports. These changes will impact approximately 20% of consumers in a very positive way. Beginning July 1, 2022, all paid medical collections will … Read more
Experian Boost™ and UltraFICO™ are two products offered by Experian® to help boost a borrower’s credit score. Please be aware that these products are only available with Experian so utilizing them will have no impact on a consumer’s TransUnion® or Equifax® scores. Experian Boost allows a consumer to add payment history from accounts that do … Read more