A report from the Urban Institute this week said 44 percent of adults in the Metroplex with credit reports had collection dings.
While this number has huge consequences on how much we pay for mortgages, car loans and credit cards, as well as access to jobs or rental housing, local experts caution that things are not as financially dire as the report may indicate.
Widely dispersed by the media this week, the report also said that one in three Americans with credit reports had collection problems hanging on their credit histories.
But a closer look at the report showed that some of these issues were as small as an unpaid parking ticket or membership fees. The figures include credit card debt that has already been charged off by the creditor as paid or settled, but still remains on your credit report for up to seven years. Much of that activity happened during the biggest financial collapse of a generation and may not represent a current debt problem.
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