Mark Nelson was looking to buy a car in Beavercreek when his partner, Sara, got an alert in her email. His three credit scores had dropped 175 points. Was it possible the CARES act deferment caused credit score drop?
The large drop started with a six-month deferment the couple received on the previous loan of their vehicle through the CARES act. Passed in March, the stimulus bill encouraged people facing economic difficulty from the COVID pandemic to defer payments on certain loans.
Cares Act Deferment to blame?
The CARES Act contains verbiage to protect the credit reporting of those who take advantage of it. While the Cares Act Deferment seems like a positive, Issues have been creeping up at all three major credit reporting agencies. In communication from Consumer Finance Protection Bureau sent in October, the agency reported over 13,000 complaints about credit reporting from April through September. That is a 550% increase over the same period in 2019!
Issues such as these weren’t limited to auto loads or credit cards. In May, customers found that Great Lakes Educational Loan Services were incorrectly reporting their loans as late. This mistake causes thousands of consumers to experience a score drop. Because of this, The lender and all three major credit bureaus are facing a class-action lawsuit regarding the error.
With many losing their job and looking for relief, a number of Americans have taken on deferments. In order to help consumers track their credit better during the COVID crisis, the US Government has instructed all three major credit reporting agencies to allow weekly credit report access through AnnualCreditReport.com. This will allow someone the ability to catch any errors before they apply for financing.
As for Nelson? His uses of the CARES act deferment causes credit score drop. He is still working through various disputes with Transunion, Equifax, and Experian. While he has been successful fixing most of the reporting errors, some remain. Using the CFFB has provided the best results to date.
“I wish they would have explained these potential issues upfront.” Nelson said. “It was quite embarrassing to be denied for an auto loan due to a virus.”
Need help deleting errors related to deferment?
- Document every communication you have had relating to these payments.
- Dispute these late payments in WRITING with the creditor first, not the credit report agency.
- If the creditor responds unfavorably, file a dispute with EACH credit reporting agency.
- Lastly, proceed with a CFPB dispute to remove these late payments if all else fails.
