Equifax this week admitted it provided false information Credit scores of some consumersPotentially affecting applications for mortgages, auto loans or credit cards.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that, between March 17 and April 6, the company sent millions of incorrect credit scores to consumers. Still Equifax told That the credit scores of less than 300,000 customers have changed by 25 points or more in either direction. The errors swing in how various elements are weighted in credit reports, the company said.
A Florida woman who was forced into an expensive car loan as a result of an incorrect Equifax score is now suing the company. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, notes that over the three-week period Equifax sent out incorrect scores, 25 million credit reports were pulled from three credit-reporting bureaus. Given those figures, millions of Americans could have been affected by the error, the suit claims.
Although Equifax said the underlying information was not changed, a 25-point credit-score shift could make the difference between financial products being approved or declined as well as affecting the interest you pay.
Read on to find out if errors affect you, and what you can do if your credit score is affected.
Did you apply for a loan or loan this spring?
Unless you applied for loans, credit cards or other financial products between March 17 and April 6, it’s hard to know if you were hit by Equifax’s scoring errors.
“How do you know if you’re not monitoring your credit score and your credit report regularly?” Bruce McCleary, Senior Vice President of Membership and Communications at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling
However, “if you went to a lender and were rejected … it could be a clue that you were possibly the victim,” he said.
What did the lender say?
If you were turned down for a loan, or if you got bad financial terms because you were considered a credit risk, the lender is Necessary To send you a notice explaining the decision.
McCleary recommends going back to the rejection notice to see what factors were involved. If you can’t find it, call the lender and ask if they can remove it from their records.
“You want to be sure for what reason the lender rejected your application,” he said.
“It’s not fair to assume that it’s always going to be a credit score,” McCleary said. “Maybe your debt-to-income ratio wasn’t what they wanted. Maybe your employment history didn’t reflect the kind of stability they were looking for.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are two types of notices lenders send when they deny credit. If you were denied based on information in Consumer Reports, the lender is required to send you an “adverse action notice.” If you’ve got less generous terms, the lender will have to send you a “Risk-Based Pricing” notice.
If you applied for a credit card or loan and did not receive a notice, you were not adversely affected by the Equifax error, according to Nerdwallet,
check your credit report
The next step is to request your credit report. Consumers are periodically entitled to a free credit report, which they can request from AnnualCreditReport.com. If there is anything wrong with the report, dispute it. You can also try calling Equifax’s support line at 1-888-378-4329.
Once any issues on your credit report have been corrected, “it’s worth going back and asking for a reconsideration. That means reapplying for the loan,” McCleary said.
McCleary said the current case is unusual. Unlike financial institutions that have been hit by data breaches, Equifax has not contacted customers to alert them to the issue.
The credit bureau did not respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s questions about whether it plans to contact customers.
Some lawmakers are now pushing the company to explain the error and compensate someone affected customers.
