Millions Of Americans Could See Their Credit Scores Go Up

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Millions of Americans' credit scores could be going up.

That's because certain "negative" information can no longer be included in credit reports - from paying her bills before they're due to maintaining a good job.

Kimber Matthews does everything she can to boost her credit score which she admits is less than stellar.

"It gets a little bit better - a few points each month," said Matthews.

She's hoping her score will soon get a boost!

On July 1st, credit reporting agencies started removing some negative information from the equation. That includes nearly all civil judgment and most tax liens.

"It's going to help those individuals who don't have other negative information on their credit report," said Financial Advisor Bruce Stuart.

Stuart says overall about 12 million people are expected to benefit from the deal between the credit reporting agencies and 31 state attorney's general who accused the bureaus of including "inaccurate" information in their credit files.

From now on, records will need to have more details.

"If they don't have the name, address, date of birth or social security number of the individual, it will be taken off the credit report," said Stuart.

Removing those is expected to help thousands get rid of mistakes on their credit report.

Kimber is one of many hoping that a higher credit score leads to lower interest rates and better deals.

"I would definitely refinance my car at a better interest rate," said Matthews.

Now the credit bureaus will soon also be required to update their records every 90 days and will no longer list medical debts less than six months old. They've already removed things like traffic tickets and court fines from their files.

People who benefit from the new rules are expected to see an average credit score boost of about 20 points.