Higher Credit Scores and Better Interest Rates Are Coming July 1!

About 12 million people may soon get a boost to their credit scores as the national credit reporting agencies wipe tax liens and civil judgments from their records. Starting July 1st, the three major credit reporting companies will enforce stricter rules on the public records they collect, requiring each citation to include the subject’s name, address and either their Social Security number or date of birth. Nearly all civil judgments and at least half of the nation’s tax lien records do not meet the new standards and will be eliminated from consumer credit reports. The typical increase will be 20 points or less, according to Fair Isaac’s analysis. So what is the impact on borrowers? Some borrowers may qualify for a better interest rate as a result of their higher credit score. Even better, we may qualify a borrower who would have been turned down before the credit score change. More changes are coming this fall! Starting in September, credit reports will eliminate medical debt collection accounts that are less than six months old. This change is intended to reflect the sometimes-lengthy process of sorting out health insurance reimbursements.