The credit scores of millions of U.S. consumers have risen following a broad overhaul of how credit-reporting firms handle negative credit information, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumers who had at least one collections account removed from their files experienced an 11-point increase, on average, in their credit scores, according to a report released yesterday by the New York Federal Reserve. The report was based on a sample of millions of anonymous credit reports from credit-reporting firm Equifax Inc. Collections were completely removed from 8 million consumers’ credit reports in the 12 months through June, resulting in an average 14-point increase. The improvements come after the three largest U.S. credit-reporting firms changed how they deal with certain kinds of negative credit events that some have said are prone to error and unfairly drag down credit scores. The firms — Equifax, Experian PLC and TransUnion — agreed to revamp the reports following settlements with state attorneys general dating back to 2015.
