Credit Reporting & Human Trafficking

Highlights:

• Human trafficking survivors often have their credit damaged when loans and bank accounts are opened in their name.
• Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and related regulations, trafficking survivors can now have negative information that resulted from trafficking removed from their credit reports.
• If you are a victim or survivor of trafficking, you can submit a request for Equifax to remove or block adverse information resulting from human trafficking from your Equifax credit report.

The International Labour Organization estimates there were 24.9 million victims of human trafficking around the world, which includes forced labor, forced marriage and sex trafficking. For more than 1 in 4 human trafficking survivors, a bank account or credit card is opened in their name and used or controlled by their trafficker. Traffickers can then mismanage the victim’s account, resulting in harm to their credit. This credit damage can linger for years after survivors have escaped the trafficking.

What is The Debt Bondage Repair Act?

In December 2021, President Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law, which includes the Debt Bondage Repair Act (DBRA). The Act prohibits credit reporting agencies (CRAs) from providing credit reports containing adverse information resulting from an individual being trafficked, if the individual has notified the CRA and provided appropriate documentation. Then the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) established a rule for the CRAs to have a method for survivors of trafficking to submit requests to remove information that resulted from trafficking, as well as necessary supporting documentation.

How does a human trafficking survivor submit a request to remove information resulting from human trafficking?

If you are a survivor or an advocate for a survivor of human trafficking and would like to request that information is removed from your Equifax credit report, you can submit your request and documents online through a free myEquifax account. In myEquifax, visit the Dispute Center and click the link in the “For Victims of Human Trafficking” section.

You can submit a request to remove or block adverse information resulting from human trafficking from your Equifax credit report by sending a letter explaining your request and the required supporting documents and information to Equifax at the address below:

Equifax Information Services, LLC
P.O. Box 105874
Atlanta, GA 30348

You may also call us at (833) 240-3461 to speak to an agent about the process for submitting a request related to adverse information resulting from human trafficking.

If adverse information due to human trafficking appears on your TransUnion or Experian credit reports, you will need to send a request to each of them separately:

Experian
P.O. Box 1069
Allen, TX 75013
(833) 420-2893

TransUnion
P.O. Box 159
Woodlyn, PA 19094
(833) 982-4057

Additional Resources

Office for Victims of Crime-Funded Human Trafficking Services Grantees and Task Forces
https://ovc.ojp.gov/matrix-ovc-funded-human-trafficking-services-grantees-and-task-forces

Office on Trafficking in Persons
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/victim-assistance/victim-assistance-grants

National Human Trafficking Hotline
1-888-373-7888
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/
TEXT: 233733 (Text "HELP" or "INFO")
Languages: English, Spanish and 200 more languages

National Human Trafficking Resource Center
1-888-373-7888 available in English and Spanish
https://www.eeoc.gov/national-human-trafficking-resource-center

Responding to Human Trafficking
https://polarisproject.org/responding-to-human-trafficking/
Text “BeFree” 233733