Appearing in the Chicago Tribune on July 3, 2025, an op-ed by Chi Chi Wu, director of consumer reporting and data advocacy at NCLC discusses how millions of Americans recently saw their credit scores drop 100 or 150 points when the administration of Donald Trump started reporting student loan delinquencies to the credit bureaus.
Americans should not be shut out from future economic opportunities because of policy changes by the economic wrecking ball of the current administration. And their damaged credit records should not be used to decide whether they should get a job, be able to rent an apartment, and get insurance and utilities.
Chi Chi Wu, director of consumer reporting and data advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center.
Inequality in the United States and globally is at record highs and contributes to societal unrest. Systems such as credit scoring entrench and exacerbate economic inequality and penalize lack of family and generational wealth instead of rewarding hard work and merit.
If we are to have any hope of a fairer, more stable society that provides opportunity to everyone, we need better systems that do not entrench inequality under a veneer of mathematical objectivity.
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