This page is educational. It is not legal advice. Accurate, current, verifiable information cannot legally be removed from a credit report.
plant money habits is a private company founded by Yordan Marin. It is not a government agency. It is not Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. It is not the CFPB or the FTC.
First-screen answer. FEDERAL CROA still applies: no money before services are fully performed, no untrue claims, a separate signed 1679c statement, a written contract, and a 3-business-day cancel. STATE New York’s credit-services rules are General Business Law Article 28-BB, §§ 458-a through 458-k. Collecting a fee before the contracted services are performed is an unfair and deceptive practice. There is no bond workaround. The attorney exception is for a person admitted to practice law in New York, for work in the course and scope of that practice. This page does not claim anyone is a “registered CSO” in New York. STATE FMDRA: consumer reporting agencies may not place or maintain medical debt on a New York consumer’s report, including medical-credit-card debt. A regular Visa or Mastercard charge for medical care can still report.
Every fact below is labeled FEDERAL or STATE.
FEDERAL — CROA. The Credit Repair Organizations Act applies nationwide. A credit repair organization may not take money for a service before that service is fully performed. It may not make untrue or misleading claims. Before any contract, it must give you a separate signed Consumer Credit File Rights statement (15 U.S.C. § 1679c). The contract must be in writing. You may cancel within three business days (§ 1679e). Advance-fee and untrue-claim rules are in § 1679b.
FEDERAL — FCRA disputes. You can pull your files and dispute incomplete or inaccurate information with the bureaus and with furnishers. See How a credit dispute works under the FCRA. Start with How do I dispute an error on my credit report? (CFPB) and Disputing Errors on Your Credit Reports (FTC). The FTC’s Fixing Your Credit FAQs repeat the hard line: no one can legally remove accurate, current information.
FEDERAL — free files, not scores. By statute you get one free file from each nationwide bureau every 12 months. The bureaus also offer weekly free reports (not scores) at AnnualCreditReport.com. See Free Credit Reports (FTC).
FEDERAL — CFPB complaint after a bureau dispute. A CFPB complaint is not round one. As of June 24, 2026, the CFPB directs consumers who have a credit-reporting complaint about incomplete or inaccurate information to complete the statutory dispute with the bureau first. Then you may submit a complaint.
FEDERAL — medical debt. There is no nationwide ban. The CFPB’s medical-debt credit-reporting rule was vacated on July 11, 2025. See Prohibition on Creditors and Consumer Reporting Agencies Concerning Medical Information (Regulation V). Separately, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion keep a voluntary industry policy: they generally keep off paid medical collections, medical collections under $500, and medical collections less than 12 months past due. That policy covers medical collections. Ordinary credit-card charges for medical care are not covered. A state rule, if one exists, is labeled STATE below. Do not treat industry policy as a federal statute.
STATE. New York’s credit-services rules are in General Business Law Article 28-BB (Credit Services Business), sections 458-a through 458-k, including § 458-e (advance fees prohibited).
STATE — advance fees banned; no bond workaround. It is an unfair and deceptive trade practice, and unlawful, for a credit services business to receive or collect any fee from a consumer in advance of performing the services specified in the contract. New York does not let a company dodge that ban by posting a surety bond. Do not read a Pennsylvania- or Florida-style bond exception into New York law.
STATE — attorney exception is NY-admitted only. “Credit services business” does not include a person admitted to practice law in this state who renders services within the course and scope of practice as an attorney at law. It is not a blanket “any lawyer anywhere” exception.
STATE — no “registered CSO.” This page does not describe plant money habits, or any other firm, as a “registered credit services organization” under New York law. Article 28-BB is a conduct statute (information statement, contract contents, advance-fee ban, AG enforcement). It is not a license plate you can flash.
STATE — Attorney General. File a complaint with the New York Attorney General at File a complaint or call 1-800-771-7755.
STATE. New York’s Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act is a STATE rule. The Attorney General’s page states that consumer reporting agencies may not place or maintain information about a medical debt on a New York consumer’s credit report — including medical debt charged to a medical credit card. Hospitals, health-care professionals, and ambulance services may not furnish medical-debt information to the bureaus, and must bar their collectors from doing so.
STATE, with the caveat the AG itself flags. Ordinary credit-card charges for medical care on a regular (not medical) Visa or Mastercard can still be reported. FMDRA is not a wipe of every hospital-related line that ever touched a general-purpose card.
FEDERAL still applies. The vacated CFPB rule is not New York’s FMDRA. Do not collapse the two. There is still no nationwide ban. The bureau voluntary policy on paid / under-$500 / less-than-12-months-past-due medical collections is industry practice, not a New York statute.
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Read your consumer credit file rights before you sign anything.
You can do every step on this page yourself, for free. If you want us to run the disputes, that is the done-for-you service. $0 today. We do not guarantee a credit score number.
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