Credit Reporting Update: National Consumer Assistance Plan (NCAP)

Thank you to MMHA member Howard Levin, President of Poe Knows Permier Investigative Screening, for sharing this update with us:

National Consumer Assistance Plan (NCAP)

The National Consumer Assistance Plan (NCAP) is not a law, but an initiative launched by the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – to make credit reports more accurate and make it easier for consumers to correct any errors on their credit reports.

Under the plan, which was launched in March, 2015, the three national consumer reporting agencies have taken a number of steps to improve data accuracy and quality and make it easier for consumers to understand their credit information. The companies are implementing the plan over a three year period with full implementation of the plan expected by March 2018.

Effective 07/2017, a large percentage of tax liens and civil judgments will no longer be housed by the national credit bureaus, because of insufficient identifiers, significantly limiting records of value to landlords and employers.

Effective 09/15/2017, reporting of medical bills will be delayed, plus changes are being made to which medical bills will be reported and which will be removed entirely from credit reports.

Going forward, at a minimum, a record must reflect the name, address and either the social security number or date of birth of the consumer, in order for the national consumer reporting agencies to include an item in a consumer’s report.

Records of bankruptcy will most likely not be impacted. However, a large percentage of tax liens and civil judgments will no longer be housed by the national credit bureaus, limiting, significantly, records of value to landlords.

The impact of NCAP will be felt most by landlords which base decisions on scoring modules, because landlords will be seeing artificially higher scores, which may skew those ‘approve/decline’ scoring modules, increasing the value of the Credibility Interview conducted with each applicant.

Among the highlights of NCAP:

Consumers who obtain their free annual credit report and dispute information that causes the report to be modified will be able to obtain another free credit report without waiting twelve months.

Medical debts won’t be reported until after a 180-day waiting period to allow insurance payments to be applied. The credit reporting agencies will also remove from credit reports previously listed medical collections that have been or are being paid by insurance.

Debts that did not arise from a contract or agreement by the consumer to pay, such as traffic and parking tickets or fines, will not be included or appear on consumer's credit reports.

The credit reporting agencies will provide special attention to consumers who are victims of fraud or who have credit information belonging to another consumer on their file. Consumers will receive improved communications about their credit report disputes, explaining additional options available if they are unsatisfied.

Visit http://www.nationalconsumerassistanceplan.com/about/ for more information regarding this initiative.