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New Policy To Raise Credit Score For Many

DETROIT (WWJ) - Come tomorrow morning, your credit score could be increasing on its own.

The increase in your credit score is thanks to a set of policy changes impacting the three major credit bureaus -- TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.

By requiring additional information and more frequent updates, TransUnion, Equifax and Experian anticipate that all civil judgments and at least half of all tax liens will be removed from consumers' reports

Jill Gonzalez of Wallet Hub, a personal finance website, told WWJ that civil judgments and tax liens will serve as the two biggest reasons credit reports will be affected.

"Both of those things must now have your name, address and either date of birth or social security number," Gonzalez said. "They also must be updated every 90 days, it was a little longer in the past. So because of those things, say you have a civil judgement on your report but your address isn't included on it, that is now automatically dropped from your credit report and that can really lead to a boost in your actual credit score."

These changes will go into effect on Saturday, and Gonzalez said the average person's credit score will rise by 10 points. Most people can expect an increase of 20 points or less.

"Six to 9 percent of Americans are really going to see it go into effect here," Gonzalez said. "So anywhere from 12 to 20 million people, and depending on what score you're looking at FICO score will raise about 20 points or less in most cases. The VantageScore will increase 10 points on average."

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