How human trafficking survivors can repair their credit
Safe Haven Ministries, which works with domestic abuse and human trafficking survivors, was recently authorized to certify victim status under the Debt Bondage Repair Act, an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act that helps survivors fix their credit after being trafficked.
A trafficker's common method of control is to take out credit cards or loans in their victim's name and then not pay them back, Safe Haven Ministries Human Trafficking Task Force Coordinator Amanda Colegrove explained. That can make it difficult for the victim to rebuild.
2024 report: Kent County finding more human trafficking victims than last year
'Once they exit their situation, that shows up as something that they have done, when in fact it was a method of control for the trafficker,' Colegrove explained. 'That can make it very difficult for someone trying to take back their life and move on to be able to find housing or get a loan for other things that they might need like a car.'
She added, 'What (the Debt Bondage Repair Act) allows us is to just provide another path for our clients to rebuild their lives, take back what was taken from them and find a way to be self-supporting once again.'
Certifying a client's victim status is just the first step. From there, they will have to work through the process of each credit reporting company, which will determine if they will remove the traffickers' actions from their credit report.
Because it's a new process, Colegrove said, it's still unclear how long that will take.
'Individuals who may have experienced trafficking and want to have help with this need to understand that it's going to take time and it's not going to happen right away,' she said. 'Ultimately, it rests with the credit reporting company and what they decide.'
She also noted that it doesn't remove the debt, though other tools, such as using stolen identity resources, could help bring debt relief.
'The crux of the matter is that they have an opportunity to improve their credit score and this allows them to rebuild their lives after trafficking,' she said.
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The Hill
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Every year, millions of Americans become victims of credit fraud. Most victims don't know their identity has likely already been compromised. Identity fraud cost Americans more than $42.9 billion in 2023 and affected more than 15 million people. These aren't isolated incidents. They reflect a serious security issue: a credit reporting infrastructure built for a different era, operating on outdated identity verification and an open-by-default trust model. At the center of this crisis is the Social Security number, still the primary credential used to apply for credit. But it has been compromised beyond repair. Originally designed for Social Security benefits, not identity verification, the number is now the key to our financial world, despite being widely leaked online and nearly impossible to change. In just the first half of 2023, 69 percent of U.S. data breaches exposed Social Security numbers, according to Security Magazine. 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How human trafficking survivors can repair their credit
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