On July 1, 2017, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax stopped reporting virtually all of consumer tax liens and civil judgments. This comes as a result of a class action suit called the “NCAP Settlement” that started in 2015 and recently settled with the three bureaus. There have been a number of news reports out recently talking about how this change has the potential to improve many consumers’ credit scores. But this good news for the consumer can be a problem for the bankruptcy attorney who uses free credit reports. These are now missing liens and judgments which can be critically necessary in a bankruptcy filing.
Our partner, CIN Legal’s Bankruptcy Credit Reports (BCR) includes a search of Lexis Nexis’ public records database including relevant liens and judgements for this very reason – to make sure you have access to all the information you need to represent your clients. Click here for more information on BCRs also, because Public Records often don’t have PII (like SSN’s, etc.) it is possible to get a “false positive” but these can be easily eliminated with your client’s review and of course, these LexisNexis records are not on the consumer’s credit report but at least you will know that you are aware of anything that might be relevant in a bankruptcy filing. If you have any questions you can call CIN Legal at (866) 218-1003.
