ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
Equifax logo. FILE: CBS Equifax is back in the spotlight after Rep. Maxine Waters asked for the credit reporting agency to be barred from selling credit scores until it explains how it flubbed credit score calculations for millions of Americans. Equifax last week admitted that it misreported some consumers’ credit scores, potentially affecting applications for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards. The company sent out incorrect scores between March 17 and April 6, affecting millions of consumers, the Wall Street Journal reported. Yet Equifax said that less than 300,000 customers had their credit scores change by 25 points or more in either direction. Waters, a California Democrat who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, wrote to the Consumer Financial Reporting Bureau on Wednesday, asking the CFPB to bar Equifax from distributing consumer credit scores until it can show those scores are accurate. Potential harms Equifax is one of the three credit reporting agencies that collect financial and other data on most of America’s adult population. Credit reports, and credit scores, are major tools that lenders rely on when approving customers. Most credit scores range from 300 to 850, with a higher score resulting in more favorable loan terms. Although Equifax said the underlying information was not changed as part of the error, a credit score shift of 25 points can make the difference between being approved or denied financial products as well as affect how much interest you pay. A Florida woman who was forced into a pricey car loan as a result of an incorrect Equifax score is now suing the company. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, notes that over the three-week period Equifax sent out erroneous scores, 25 million credit reports were pulled from the three credit bureaus. Given those figures, millions of Americans could have been affected by the error, the suit claims. Read on to learn whether the errors affect you, and what you can do if your credit score was affected. Did you apply for a loan or credit this spring? Unless you applied for a loan, credit card or other financial products between March 17 and April 6, it’s hard to know if you were affected by Equifax’s scoring errors. “If you haven’t been monitoring your credit score and your credit report regularly, how would you know?” said Bruce McClary, senior vice president of membership and communications at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling However, “If you went to a lender and were rejected … that might be a clue that you were possibly a victim,” he said. What did the lender say? If you were turned down for a loan, or if you received worse financial terms because you were considered a credit risk, the lender is required to send you a notice explaining the decision. McClary advises going back to the rejection notice to see what factors were involved. If you can’t find it, call up the lender and ask if they can pull it from their record. “You want to be very sure what caused the lender to decline your application,” he said. “It’s not right to assume it’s always going to be the credit score,” McClary added. “Maybe your debt-to-income ratio wasn’t what they wanted. Maybe your employment history didn’t reflect the kind of stability they were looking for.” There are two types of notices lenders send when they deny credit, according to the Federal Trade Commission. If you were denied based on information in a consumer report, the lender is required to send an “adverse action notice.” If you received less generous terms, the lender must send a “risk-based pricing” notice. If you applied for a credit card or loan and haven’t received either notice, you were not adversely affected by the Equifax error, according to Nerdwallet. Check your credit report The next step is to request your credit report. Consumers are entitled to a free credit report periodically, which they can request from annualcreditreport.com. If anything in the report is wrong, dispute it. You can also try calling Equifax’s support line at 1-888-378-4329. Once any issues on your credit report have been corrected, “It’s worth going back and asking for a reconsideration. That means applying for the loan again,” McClary said. McClary noted that the current case is unusual. Unlike financial institutions that have been hit by data breaches, Equifax has not reached out to customers to alert them about the issue. You can also check your reports from all three bureaus for free weekly at annualcreditreport.com The credit bureau did not answer questions from CBS MoneyWatch on whether it plans to contact customers. Waters and other lawmakers are now pushing Equifax to explain the error and compensate any customers who were affected.