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 insurance 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.

 

So let’s look at what’s really going on here.

 

While many are still digging their way out of the economic collapse, personal bankruptcies are down 11 percent as of March compared to the year before, said Mitchell Allen, founder and president of Benbrook-based Debt Education and Certification Foundation, a call-in service center for financial education now required pre- and post-bankruptcy.

 

“Bankruptcies have had a steady decline over the last four years,” he said. “We’ve had a 25 percent reduction over that period.”

 

Allen, who also is the author of A Survival Guide to Debt. (Greenleaf Book Group Press, $11.36 on Amazon.com) — one of the best books I’ve read on the subject — said that bankruptcies are down because of better personal financial management and tighter lending requirements.

 

“People noticeably aren’t spending as much and have saved a little more,” Allen said. “And there is a huge difference in the documentation required to get a loan or a credit card than there was before the recession.”

 

Because of the decline in bankruptcies, Allen’s company has scaled back from 40 to 30 employees, he said.

 

Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Dallas, which provides a no-cost service, has also recently closed two offices in Tarrant County because of less activity and now operates just one office in Dallas, said Todd Mark, vice president of community affairs for the company.

 

“There is a lot less in terms of crisis calls today than we’ve seen in the past,” Mark said. “Nationally, CCCS reports that the demand for counseling is down 50 percent over the last year.”

 

Calls coming into the counseling service deal more with old credit problems than recent ones, Mark said.

 

“Most people are two or three years in recovery and are contacting us to deal with some of the issues of their past now that they have a stable income,” he said.

 

Those facing such credit repair issues should consider opening up new lines of credit, whether through a secured credit card or other type of loan, to re-establish health to their credit report, Mark advised.

 

“It’s like the lottery — you have to play to win,” Mark said. “Credit is about borrowing and paying it back. To have good credit, you have to display responsible behavior.”

 

Mark said the Urban Institute report showed more of the financial problems left over from the Great Recession.

 

“It’s representative of the wreckage left behind from the Great Recession,” he said. “It’s not a snapshot of today. The delinquency rate on credit cards today is just 5.3 percent and consumer debt overall is much lower.”