Credit Reporting & Scores

Credit reports and scores are critical to the economic health of over 200 million Americans. They are a consumer’s financial report card, used by employers, landlords, insurers, and lenders. Yet inaccuracies plague credit reports, and the FCRA-mandated dispute system to fix problems is broken and biased in favor of creditors and debt collectors. Credit scores also display serious racial disparities and perpetuate this nation’s legacy of economic discrimination. NCLC works to improve the credit reporting system.

Consumer Bureau Announces Groundbreaking Plan to Protect Americans from the Devastating Effects of Medical Debt

September 21, 2023

Consumer advocates cheer announcement that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing a prohibition on the reporting of all medical debts on credit reports.  

Read More about: Consumer Bureau Announces Groundbreaking Plan to Protect Americans from the Devastating Effects of Medical Debt

Automated Injustice Redux: Ten Years After a Key Report, Consumers Are Still Frustrated Trying to Fix Credit Reporting Errors

February 1, 2019

Ten years ago, the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) issued Automated Injustice: How a Mechanized Dispute System Frustrates Consumers Seeking to Fix Errors in their Credit Reports, the landmark report on the serious dysfunctions in the American credit reporting system. Since then, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) began exercising supervision authority over the Big…

Read More about: Automated Injustice Redux: Ten Years After a Key Report, Consumers Are Still Frustrated Trying to Fix Credit Reporting Errors

From the NCLC Digital Library

Fair Credit Reporting

The premier treatise on credit bureaus, tenant screening, background checks, and other reports, plus the latest U.S. Supreme Court rulings, CFPB interpretations, federal and state legislative changes, government enforcement actions, caselaw developments, and changes to industry practices.

Read Chapter One

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