Less than one week ago, Salle Mae's computer system incorrectly reported graduated or extended repayment plans for student loans as arrangements for partial payment. This caused the Credit Bureaus to tag just under 1 Million borrowers as delinquent sending their credit scores plummeting. Some claimed to have drops of over 100 points.
The problem was corrected within a few days and all that were effected should see their scores back to more normalized levels. While many of the roughly 1 Million people effected probably didn't even realize that anything had happened, I imagine there were at least a few dozen people that tried to obtain credit, applied for a new job, or signed a rental application during that time -- only to be turned down.
This story hasn't gotten too much press, however, it helps to underscore the unfair stranglehold creditors have on our credit reports and scores.
BusinessWeek was one of the few publications to run details on what happened.Other Resources: