Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office has reached a settlement agreement with the country's three largest credit reporting agencies to increase consumer protections, including making it easier to dispute mistakes on credit reports and lessening the effects of medical debt.

The announcement came Monday after months of negotiations between the companies—Equifax, Experian and TransUnion—and Schneiderman.

Consumer advocates have long sought a revamp that would reduce errors on credit reports and make correcting them easier. Data collected by the agencies on about 200 million people are used to create credit scores, which can determine who gets a loan and how much interest is paid on it. This has the potential to affect “every aspect of their lives,” said Schneiderman during a news conference on Monday at his office in Manhattan.