The Fair Credit Reporting Act

Your Rights

If you have a charge account (credit card), a home mortgage, a life insurance policy, or if you are even applying for a personal loan or a job, you can count on the fact that there is a file out there that states just how well you are paying your bills, whether you have been arrested or taken to court, even if you have filed a bankruptcy and more – there is a report out there.

The companies that obtain this information and sell it to creditors, insurers, businesses, potential employers and such are called consumer reporting agencies. The name of this report is known as a consumer report.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act came into law on 4/25/1971. This act was passed by Congress to protect consumers against the circulation of inaccurate or obsolete information and to ensure that consumer reporting agencies adopted fair and equitable procedures for getting, maintaining, and giving out that information about any consumer they are reporting on.

Under this law you can take steps to protect yourself if you have been denied credit, insurance, or employment, or when if you think you have had problems because of an incorrect or unfair consumer report.

According to the Office of Consumer Affairs, your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act are the following:

-         You have the right to be told the name and address of the consumer reporting agency that is reporting any information used to deny you credit, insurance, or employment; or increase the cost of credit or insurance.

-         You have the right to be informed by a consumer reporting agency as to the nature, substance, and sources (except investigative sources) of the information (baring medical records) that has been collected about you personally.

-         You have the right to take anyone of your choosing with you when you visit the consumer reporting agency to check on your personal file.

-         You have the right to get a free copy of the report that contains information used to deny you credit within thirty days. If you do not request a copy within 30 days, there is a charge involved.

-         You have the right to be informed who has received a consumer report on you within the preceding6 moths, or within the preceding 2 years should the report be used for employment reasons.

-         You have the right to have incomplete or incorrect information reinvestigated unless the consumer reporting agency has reasonable grounds to think that the incorrect information you are disputing si frivolous or irrelevant. If the information is investigated and found to be inaccurate, or if the information cannot be verified, you have the right to have such information taken out of the report all together.

-         You have the right to have the consumer reporting agency notify those you name (free of cost to you), who have previously gotten the incorrect or incomplete, that this information has been in fact taken out of your report all together.

-         You have the right to post any dispute between you and the reporting agency if the issue surrounding the mistake cannot come to a conclusion into your actual report. This dispute will show in any future reports of you.

-         You have the right to request that the reporting agency send your version of the dispute to certain businesses without any charge to you, if your request is made with 30 days of the adverse action.

-         To have the right to have a consumer report withheld from anyone who under the law does not have a legitimate business need for the information contiained in your consumer report.

-         You have the right to sue a reporting agency for damages if the agency willfully or negligently violates the law and if you are successful, to collect any and all attorney fees and court costs as well.

-         You have the right to not have adverse information reported after 7 years. One major exception to this right is bankruptcy.

-         You have the right to get notice from any business that is looking for information about you that would constitute an investigative consumer report.

-         You have the right to ask for more information about the nature and scope of the investigation should any business be conducting one on you.

-         You have the right to understand the nature and substance (but not the sources) of the information that was collected for the investigative consumer report that was conducted on you.

On the other hand, here is was the Fair Credit Reporting Act does not do:

-         It does not require the consumer reporting agency to provide you with a copy of your file, although some agencies will voluntarily give you a copy.

-         It dies not compel anyone to do business with any individual consumer

-         It does not apply when you ask for commercial (as distinguished from consumer) credit or business insurance.

-         It does not authorize any federal agency to add new accounts to your file. But, some federal agencies might do this for a small fee.

Here is how you should deal with consumer reporting agencies:

-         Arrange for a person interview with any agency that you have knowledge of your personal information from should you have any questions regarding what you see in your consumer report.

Now that you have a better understanding of your rights, what the agencies are compelled and not compelled to report and how to deal with the information in your consumer report, you will be better prepared to move on to a more debt free lifestyle.

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