By now, the whole world knows that times have been tough for the residents of Flint, MI. In 2014, faulty pipes allowed dangerous amounts of lead to contaminate the city’s water supply. Recovery has been very slow, and, as of 2017, most Flint residents are still filtering their drinking water. To make the situation even worse, it’s been revealed that water rates in Flint are among the highest in the country. Many of these Michiganders have boycotted paying high prices for subpar water, ignoring their water bills for months. In retaliation, the city of Flint threatened to place tax liens on the homes of residents who’ve not paid their water bills for six months or more. This could drain the finances and ruin the credit scores of those affected. Luckily, though, members of the Flint City Council have reconsidered this drastic action.
Why Flint, Michigan Residents should be Concerned about Having Tax Liens on their Credit Reports
All Michigan consumers should be aware of the fact that having any negative item, such as a tax lien, on any of their credit reports can do serious damage to their credit scores. It typically takes seven years for a tax lien to fall off your credit reports, so the threat of having one imposed should never be taken lightly.
In Flint, Michigan, city leaders have admitted that they threatened residents with the tax liens because “they were in a bind and needed the cash.” Needless to say, consumers have NOT been pleased with this logic. Upon receiving a tremendous amount of backlash from Flint residents, the Flint City Council has placed a moratorium on the threatened tax liens. This is a small victory for city residents that has been through a lot of suffering in just a few years. Literally, the last thing that Flint residents should have to worry about right now is the Water Crisis taking its toll on their credit scores.
Fortunately, with the new credit reporting policies starting in July of 2017, a lot of tax liens will start disappearing from credit reports anyway. Moving forward, the major credit bureaus will have to supply detailed personal information in order to report tax liens and civil judgments on consumer credit reports. Of course, these new credit reporting policies wouldn’t have completely taken the sting out of what the City of Flint was originally intending to inflict on its residents. However, for consumers struggling with bad credit in the rest of Michigan, these new policies may help a great deal. In fact, after July, a large group of Michiganders may see as much as a 40 point jump in their credit scores.
Why All Michigan Consumers should Check their Credit Reports
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion aren’t implementing the new credit reporting policies because they’re nice. Rather, all of the major credit bureaus have been under fire recently for sloppy reporting practices. They’re being forced to change their ways because so many consumers have been harmed by their mistakes. For example, did you know that about 80% of credit reports contain errors of some type? It’s true. This is why all Michigan consumers should make a habit of checking their credit reports, disputing any errors that they find, and insisting that these errors be removed. This is not only your right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), but the fastest way to significantly improve your credit score.
Of course, dealing with the credit bureaus isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Even though they have a 30 day time limit in which to investigate every dispute letter they receive, they’re known to get backlogged. A lot of consumers have waited out these 30 days after filing a dispute only to hear nothing back from the credit bureau in question. You should know that if this happens, the credit bureau is in violation of a federal statute.
The good news is that you don’t have to take on the credit bureaus alone. Michigan consumers who find errors on their credit reports can get a FREE credit repair lawyer to take them all the way through the disputing process. You won’t waste your time or your money, and you may be entitled to a cash settlement for your troubles.
How Michiganders can Get a Free Credit Repair Lawyer
Don’t let errors on your credit reports bring your credit score down. At Credit Repair Lawyers of America, we’ve been cleaning up credit reports for consumers since 2008 for free. How do we do it? All of our fees come from the defendants in cases that are settled. This is why our clients pay nothing for the work we do.
Let’s start the conversation about what we can do for your credit. Set up your free consultation today by calling Attorney Gary Nitzkin at (248) 353-2882 or contact us on our contact page.
