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Fair
Credit Reporting Act
Your
Consumer Rights Under
The Revised Federal
Fair Credit Reporting
Act"
Adapted from Federal
Trade Commission's Model
Fact Sheet
The
federal Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA)
is designed to promote
accuracy, fairness,
and privacy of information
in the files of every
consumer maintained
by a credit reporting
agency--CRA. The law
was significantly amended
by the1996 Congress.
The new changes took
effect on 30 September,
1997.
Most
credit bureaus gather and sell information about you -- such
as if you pay your bills on time or have filed bankruptcy --
to creditors, employers, landlords, and other businesses. You
may not know that check verification companies and tenant screening
firms, as well as the Medical Information Bureau, are all credit
bureaus. You can find the complete text of the FCRA at the Federal
Trade Commission's web site.
Consumers
must be told if information
in your file has been
used against you. Anyone
who uses information
from a CRA to take action
against you -- such
as denying an application
for credit, insurance,
or employment -- must
tell you, and give you
the name, address, and
phone number of the
CRA that provided the
consumer report, plus
disclose your right
to a free report after
denial.
Consumers
can find out what is
in their own credit
files. At your request,
a CRA must give you
the information in your
file, and a list of
everyone who has requested
it recently. There is
no charge for the report
if a person has taken
action against you because
of information supplied
by the CRA, if you request
the report within 60
days of receiving notice
of the action. Consumers
also are entitled to
one free report every
twelve months upon request
if you certify that
- You
are unemployed and
plan to seek employment
within 60 days,
-
You are on welfare,
or
-
Your report is inaccurate
due to fraud.
Otherwise,
a CRA may charge you
up to eight dollars,
unless you live in a
free or low cost report
state. Of course, if
denied credit, you can
request additional free
reports under federal
law in these states.
Consumers
may dispute inaccurate
information with the
CRA. If you tell a CRA
that your file contains
inaccurate information,
the CRA must investigate
the items (usually within
30 days) by presenting
to its information source
all relevant evidence
you submit, unless your
dispute is frivolous.
The source must review
your evidence and report
its findings to the
CRA. (The source also
must advise national
CRAs -- to which it
has provided the data
-- of any error.) The
CRA must give you a
written report of the
investigation, and a
copy of your report
if the investigation
results in any change.
If the CRA's investigation
does not resolve the
dispute, you may add
a brief statement to
your file. The CRA must
normally include a summary
of your statement in
future reports. If an
item is deleted or a
dispute statement is
filed, you may ask that
anyone who has recently
received your report
be notified of the change.
Inaccurate
information must be
corrected or deleted.
A CRA must remove or
correct inaccurate or
unverified information
from its files, usually
within 30 days after
you dispute it. However,
the CRA is not required
to remove accurate data
from your file unless
it is outdated (as described
below) or cannot be
verified. If your dispute
results in any change
to your report, the
CRA cannot reinsert
into your file a disputed
item unless the information
source verifies its
accuracy and completeness.
In addition, the CRA
must give you a written
notice telling you it
has reinserted the item.
The notice must include
the name, address and
phone number of the
information source.
Consumers
may dispute inaccurate
items with the source
of the information.
If you tell anyone --
such as a creditor who
reports to a CRA --
that you dispute an
item, they may not then
report the information
to a CRA without including
a notice of your dispute.
In addition, once you've
notified the source
of the error in writing,
it may not continue
to report the information
if it is, in fact, an
error. Outdated information
may not be reported.
In most cases, a CRA
may not report negative
information that is
more than seven years
old; ten years for bankruptcies.
Your
consent is required
for reports that are
provided to employers,
or reports that contain
medical information.
A CRA may not give out
information about you
to your employer, or
prospective employer,
without your written
consent. A CRA may not
report medical information
about you to creditors,
insurers, or employers
without your permission.
An employer considering
adverse action must
show you the report.
Consumers
may seek damages from
violators. If a CRA,
a user or (in some cases)
a provider of CRA data,
violates the FCRA, you
may sue them in state
or federal court.
"Credit
Repair Doctors"
are strictly regulated
under the new law. Their
promises that they can
"change your social
security number"
to hide your negative
credit background are
illegal. Don't give
credit doctors your
money, use it to pay
your bills and rebuild
your credit.
The
new law also gives big
banks the right to share
your credit report and
other information with
"affiliates."
Your mutual fund may
be owned by a bank that
will make a credit card
offer to you, for example.
Those banks that desire
to take advantage of
"affiliate-sharing"
must send you a onetime
offer to opt-out. The
law does not require
that this notice be
very clear. You may
have received it and
tossed it, or never
noticed it. They're
not required to have
toll-free numbers. We
encourage you to opt-out.
Shop around when you
need financial products
instead of letting your
own bank send you mediocre
offers. You'll need
to send your bank a
letter stating that
you want to exercise
your FCRA right to opt-out
of information sharing
among affiliates.
For
more information about errors on your credit report, other fact
sheets and helpful information are available on the Federal
Trade Commission's web site.
www.godebtfree.com
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