If you’re a victim of Superstorm Sandy and you discovered that your credit score slipped because of  a late or missed payment due to the storm, you may get a break. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo wants credit scoring companies and credit bureaus to immediately stop lowering scores of Sandy victims.

Because of the chaos the storm created, many missed mortgage payments and others couldn’t make regular rent payments. In many cases their homes and apartments weren’t habitable and they were forced to pay rent to live elsewhere.  The financial burden of repairing homes and restoring storm-damaged business equipment also took its toll. Governor Cuomo said, “Hitting Sandy victims with an unfair black mark on their credit scores would add insult to injury for the thousands of New Yorkers fighting to rebuild and recover after this devastating storm.”

New York Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky sent letters to FICO,  TransUnion, Experian, Equifax, and the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA) and made the following demands.

1. Take immediate action to ensure credit scores are not lowered for Sandy victims.
2. Reset scores that were lowered.
3. Work with banks and other lenders to red flag any negative information that comes from disaster victims.
4. Meet with the Department of Financial Services to permanently change procedures to prevent credit scores from going down for disaster victims.

Lawsky said, “No Sandy victim should face a hit to their credit history simply because they caught a bad break from Mother Nature…”

What to do:

If you think your credit score was unfairly negatively affected and you need help, contact New York State Department of Financial Services at 1-800-339-1759

 

Tell us your story if you are struggling to recover and fighting to keep your good credit score.