{
  "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1",
  "title": "The Credit Record — Updates",
  "home_page_url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/updates/",
  "feed_url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/updates/feed.json",
  "description": "What changed on The Credit Record: new Library pages, Register assessments, and public corrections.",
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-2 new Library pages: FICO vs. VantageScore, and debt validation letters",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/library/",
      "title": "2 new Library pages: FICO vs. VantageScore, and debt validation letters",
      "content_text": "How the two credit scoring models actually differ in practice (minimum history, paid-collection treatment, trended data) and where mortgage lending stands as of September 2026, plus what a debt validation letter under the FDCPA actually forces a collector to do.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "library"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-2 new Library pages: furnisher disputes, secured cards & credit-builder loans",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/library/",
      "title": "2 new Library pages: furnisher disputes, secured cards & credit-builder loans",
      "content_text": "The lesser-known right to dispute directly with the company that reported an item, plus how secured cards and credit-builder loans actually work as a legitimate build-forward alternative to paying a credit repair company.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "library"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-2 more Register assessments logged",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/register/",
      "title": "2 more Register assessments logged",
      "content_text": "Credit Associates (fail) and Better Qualified (pass, held back pending direct verification of its guarantee wording) checked against the standard, bringing the Register to 18 total assessments.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "register"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-Companies that pass, by name: a new public directory",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/register/",
      "title": "Companies that pass, by name: a new public directory",
      "content_text": "The Register now names the 7 companies that have passed every point on our standard, grouped by category, with a direct link to each. The anonymous-only policy for failing companies is unchanged and permanent — a passing verdict is a positive, checkable claim, not an accusation.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "register"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-New: state-by-state credit-repair bonding and registration, explained",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/library/state-bonding-registration-explained/",
      "title": "New: state-by-state credit-repair bonding and registration, explained",
      "content_text": "CROA doesn't require any state to register or bond a credit repair company. Most states added that layer themselves, one bans the industry outright, and some have nothing at all.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "library"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-3 more Register assessments logged",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/register/",
      "title": "3 more Register assessments logged",
      "content_text": "DMB Financial, Century Support Services, and National Credit Federation checked against the standard, bringing the Register to 16 total assessments.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "register"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-Correction: an FTC disclosure-requirement date was off by a month",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/library/advance-fee-rule-explained/",
      "title": "Correction: an FTC disclosure-requirement date was off by a month",
      "content_text": "The FTC's debt-relief disclosure requirements took effect 27 September 2010, not 27 October 2010 (that date is actually the separate advance-fee ban, which took effect a month later). Corrected on the debt-settlement explainer and retroactively on the already-published advance-fee-rule page.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "correction"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-New: what to actually expect from debt settlement",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/library/debt-settlement-what-to-expect/",
      "title": "New: what to actually expect from debt settlement",
      "content_text": "The dedicated account, the credit damage it requires before it can work, the tax bill many people don't see coming, the lawsuit risk, and how many people actually finish.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "library"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-3 more Register assessments logged",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/register/",
      "title": "3 more Register assessments logged",
      "content_text": "CreditFirm.net, ClearOne Advantage, and New Era Debt Solutions checked against the standard, bringing the Register to 13 total assessments.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "register"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-New: nonprofit credit counseling and debt management plans, explained",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/library/nonprofit-credit-counseling-explained/",
      "title": "New: nonprofit credit counseling and debt management plans, explained",
      "content_text": "What real NFCC/FCAA accreditation requires, what a DMP actually costs, what it does to your credit, and how to spot a fake \"nonprofit.\"",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "library"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-2 more Register assessments logged",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/register/",
      "title": "2 more Register assessments logged",
      "content_text": "The Credit People and Pacific Debt Relief checked against the standard, bringing the Register to 10 total assessments.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "register"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-First 8 companies checked against the standard",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/register/",
      "title": "First 8 companies checked against the standard",
      "content_text": "5 credit repair and 3 debt settlement companies assessed against the 9-point standard for the first time — 3 passed. Per our anonymous-only policy, findings were reported in aggregate only at this stage.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "register"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-5 new Library pages: the foundation",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/library/",
      "title": "5 new Library pages: the foundation",
      "content_text": "What credit repair actually is, the advance-fee rule that governs it, how credit repair compares to debt settlement and nonprofit consolidation, why \"CPN\" credit-profile-number schemes are a federal crime rather than a loophole, and ten warning signs to watch for before signing anything.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "library"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "2026-09-13-The Credit Record launches",
      "url": "https://thecreditrecord.org/standard/",
      "title": "The Credit Record launches",
      "content_text": "A 9-point standard tied to federal law (the Credit Repair Organizations Act's advance-fee ban, the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule Advance Fee Rule), a public Register that reports findings honestly, and a Library of plain-English explainers — no paid placements, no affiliate links, no proprietary ranking algorithm.",
      "date_published": "2026-09-13T12:00:00.000Z",
      "tags": [
        "meta"
      ]
    }
  ]
}