The Federal Reserve on Wednesday unveiled a new online consumers' guide to credit scores and credit reports. The straightforward guide includes the basics: What a credit score is, how it is used and why it is important to protect credit histories.
The Fed's guide is meant to give consumers basic information about their credit scores and credit reports so they can better understand the new information they might be receiving from lenders.
National Consumer Law Center attorney Lauren Saunders said she is expecting the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the first agency to be charged with protecting consumers from abusive financial products, and the Federal Trade Commission to take more action to address consumer concerns about credit scores.
For now, at least the Fed's "Consumer's Guide to Credit Reports and Credit Scores" tells consumers what they should do if they find errors: Contact the credit bureau, formally dispute any mistakes and then wait for the credit bureau to investigate, which usually takes 30 days.
The problem, as Saunders, pointed out, is that sometimes the errors still never die.
