My Credit Cards and Loans were put on deferment due to COVID but now they are reporting past due on my credit. What can I do?
As part of the CARES act, card companies and or loan servicers were offering deferments to their customers who were affected by the pandemic. The deferments would have been worked out with the banks for either partial payments or no payments. This is considered an accommodation as written in the CARES act section 4021. In this section it also states if an accommodation is made the account should be reported as current, unless it was past due prior to accommodation. If you setup an account that was current on a deferment and they are reflecting past due, you should contact your creditor to discuss why and request that the credit report is corrected. If you are having a hard time getting your creditor to correct this mistake or if they are say they can’t correct it you can file a complaint with CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) or the FTC ( Federal Trade Commission).
If there was never an accepted deferment established or the account was past due at the time of the deferment, they do have the right to report the account past due. Bringing the account current will help increase your credit score. Your credit report will reflect that the account was past due at one point in time, however, making full on time monthly payments will help improve your credit score over time.