Under the agreement, the companies will have to hire humans to review consumer complaints about possible errors, fraud or identity theft. The additional step should make it easier for consumers to get errors fixed, Wu said.

“We are always looking for ways to improve our procedures, and this consumer assistance plan will allow us to do that,” the Consumer Data Industry Association representing the three credit bureaus said in a statement.

Schneiderman said at press conference in Manhattan the settlement “provides an extraordinary set of reforms that will impact the financial lives and financial security of hundreds of millions of families.”

Consumers with errors in their reports can lose access to loans, be charged higher borrowing costs, pay more on insurance policies or have trouble finding jobs. That’s because banks use credit information as a measure of worthiness in providing credit cards, mortgages and auto loans. Insurance companies use it to predict the likelihood of a claim and to determine pricing, and almost half of employers check credit reports when hiring, according to the National Consumer Law Center.

Mistaken Identity

A federal judge awarded Oregon nurse Julie Miller $1.62 million last year in a dispute with Equifax over an error on her credit report.

Miller argued in a lawsuit that the credit bureau violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by not following procedures to assure the information in her report was accurate and didn’t conduct a reasonable investigation. She sought damages for emotional distress.

A three-day jury trial in July 2013 revealed that Equifax had mixed up her identity with another person who had the same name and a similar Social Security number, which contributed to the errors in the report. Equifax appealed the judgment, and the case was settled last year for an undisclosed amount.

“She had great credit before she was mixed up with someone else,” said Michael Baxter, a lawyer who represented Miller. “After that, the first few pages of her credit report were collections and she couldn’t get anyone to do anything about it for years. It was terrible.”

Medical Debt