Regulators let you challenge merchants — after a seven-year wait

Beginning in July, consumers burned by a merchant erroneously reporting something to a credit reporting agency can take their case directly to that company as well as to the credit bureaus.

CreditCards.com has a story summarizing the news (we've also written in more detail about how to dispute an error on your credit report and shared stories of fellow Americans who've gone through this).

In a nutshell, if a mistake shows up on your credit report -- say a department store card reports you as making a late payment when you actually paid on time -- you can take your complaint to that card issuer as well as to the three credit bureaus to get the matter resolved.