Credit scores matter and there are a lot of things that can affect them! Most adults do not pay attention to their credit scores until they are too low. The pursuit of better credit takes us in one of two directions: Apathy or we pursue the better score like the weird little creepy guy-thing from ‘Lord of the Rings’…it becomes our ‘precious’. It can affect our jobs, our ability to get a car and the big one…a house. Now there are 3 things we can do to help our credit scores.

• Pay things on time. Protect it from the word go.

• Watch your score…it is an imperfect world. So keep an eye on your score and make sure any problems are handled quickly.

• If you do have a blemish…get it paid as quickly as possible and then be persistent on getting it removed.

Now that the government has spent billions to stimulate our economy we are slowly finding out that simply spending more money isn’t always the best solution. But there a few thing out there that may help and not all of them are making the 6 o’clock news. One of them is bill HR 2086–The Medical Debt Responsibility Act 2011.

What is HR 2086? Let me cheat…below is a summary. Find out more for yourself by clicking here HR 2086!

{Medical Debt Responsibility Act of 2011 – Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit a consumer reporting agency from making any report containing information related to a single fully paid or settled medical debt of $2,500 or less that had been characterized as delinquent, charged off, or in collection for credit reporting purposes, which, from the date of payment or settlement, antedates the report by more than 45 calendar days. }

The debt that will be removed is not major medical debt, but can still make a big difference.

Now, like with most things there are those who oppose it. After all, this will help improve credit scores and that in-turn will help people qualify for more ‘things’…whose to say those ‘things’ are something that those people can afford or should be spending money on. But in the long run this bill is expected to help many more people than it will hurt.

According to Commonwealth Fund Study…30 million adults were dealing with collection agencies for medical debts and around 44 million American were in the process of paying off medical bills in 2010.

“Medical debt is not a reliable indicator of credit risk, yet nearly a quarter of Americans have seen their credit scores plummet because of small, routine medical bills,” said Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Small Business Committee an and original cosponsor of H.R. 2086.“This bill provides a commonsense, simple solution to address this problem now and protect consumers in the future.”

So…this may be a good way to help boost the economy and it will not cost the taxpayer a dime. For more info on the bill click here.

To meet a local mortgage professional call Peoples Home Equity 423-591-9801 or find them on the web at www.chattmortgage.com or look them up on facebook at Peoples Home Equity Chattanooga. You can always listen to their radio program, ‘The Buyers Market’,  every Monday night at 7pm on WGOW 102.3Fm (stream it www.wgow.com) Listen to our latest radio spot: PEOPLES_HOME_EQUITY_ONE_101811