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.
1 big thing. Florida’s Credit Service Organizations law is Fla. Stat. §§ 817.7001–817.706.
Why it matters. FEDERAL CROA still applies:
The bottom line. STATE Advance fees are banned unless the company has a $10,000 surety bond and a Florida federally insured trust account, and even then early money must stay in that trust account until full performance.
Between the lines. Keep FEDERAL and STATE apart.
Learn more. CFPB: How do I dispute an error on my credit report?. FTC: Fixing Your Credit FAQs.
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. Florida’s rules are in Chapter 817, Part III, including definitions in § 817.7001 and prohibited acts in § 817.7005.
STATE — $10,000 bond and Florida trust account. A credit service organization, its salespeople, and independent contractors who sell its services generally may not charge or receive money before fully performing, unless the organization has obtained a $10,000 surety bond issued by a surety admitted in Florida and has established a trust account at a federally insured bank or savings and loan located in Florida. Even then, money received early must be deposited in that trust account until the services are fully performed.
STATE — no coaching false statements to bureaus. Florida law bars a credit service organization from making, or counseling or advising any buyer to make, a statement that is false or misleading, or that should be known by reasonable care to be false or misleading, to a consumer reporting agency or to a creditor about the buyer’s creditworthiness (§ 817.7005(3)).
STATE — do not assume an attorney exemption. Florida’s definition of “credit service organization” excludes a person licensed to practice law in Florida who renders services within the course and scope of that practice and does not engage in the credit-service business on a regular and continuing basis (§ 817.7001(2)(b)7). That is a narrow carve-out. Do not assume a lawyer is exempt. A person who runs a credit-service business on a regular and continuing basis is not in that carve-out. This page does not treat plant money habits as a Florida law firm.
STATE — Attorney General. File a consumer complaint with the Florida Attorney General at the consumer complaint form. Phone: 850-414-3990, or 866-966-7226 in-state.
FEDERAL. No nationwide ban. CFPB rule vacated July 11, 2025. Bureau voluntary policy on paid / under-$500 / less-than-12-months-past-due medical collections. Credit-card medical charges are not covered.
STATE. Senate Bill 1222 (2026), a medical-debt bill, died in Health Policy on March 13, 2026. It did not become law. Florida has not banned medical debt on credit reports. Unpaid medical collections that are accurate, current, and verifiable can still appear under federal rules and the bureaus’ voluntary policy.
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Read your consumer credit file rights before you sign anything.
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