The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a Federal law passed to regulate the use of your personal credit information as it relates to the Credit Bureaus and creditors. You have several rights under this law that allows us to be aggressive in pursuing the Credit Bureaus on your behalf.

If you don’t have time to go through the entire article, here is a summary of all your rights that are protected by the FCRA.

• Information used against you. If you are denied on any type of credit application, you are entitled to know the name, address, and phone number of the agency that provided the information that led to your denial
• Credit Report. You can access the information on your file at any given point. You must be able to provide proper identification. Sometimes your credit report can be free. It depends on the circumstances.
• Your Credit score. For a fee you can access your numerical credit score. On some occasions it can be accessed for free by a broker if you recently applied for a mortgage.
• Incorrect Information. If the information provided by the credit bureau is not 100% accurate you have the right to dispute and remove the charges.
• Outdated information. A consumer can’t report a negative item longer than 7 years. In some cases items like bankruptcies are the exception and can be held against your score for up to 10 years.
• Limited access. Information about your personal credit information can only be provided to people with a “valid need.” For example: lending agencies, mortgage brokers, and landlords.
• Employers. In order for your information to be provided to a employer your consent is required.
• Calls and offers. You can opt out of unsolicited credit and insurance offers by contacting the toll free number they are required to supply.
• Violations. If your rights have been violated you have the right to sue in state or federal court.

Sember, Brette McWhorter. The Complete Credit Repair Kit. 2nd ed. Naperville, IL: Sphinx Publishing, 2008. Print.

You can request one free copy of your credit report each year (as mandated by the FCRA) if you desire to obtain additional copies there are different pricing plans. Your credit score will not be included in the free report. If an error is found on your credit report, upon informing the proper credit bureau of the issue, they have 30 days to respond. Your credit report will also list all credit inquires you have made in the past 6 months and all the people who have purchased your report in the past 2 years. “Under the FCRA you are permitted to dispute any items you reasonably believe to be wrong or incomplete.”

You can view an article posted on Yale University’s website called:“A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act”.

We have the entire text of the FCRA on our website, word-for-word, as it appears on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) website. You can learn more by reading the article on Wikipedia titled: “Fair Credit Reporting Act”.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act

Introduction

§ 601 Short title

§ 602 Congressional findings and statement of purpose

§ 603 Definitions; rules of construction

§ 604 Permissible purposes of consumer reports

§ 605A Identity theft prevention; fraud alerts and active duty alerts

§ 605B Block of information resulting from identity theft

§ 605 Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports

§ 606 Disclosure of investigative consumer reports

§ 607 Compliance procedures

§ 608 Disclosures to governmental agencies

§ 609 Disclosures to consumers

§ 610 Conditions and form of disclosure to consumers

§ 611 Procedure in case of disputed accuracy

§ 612 Charges for certain disclosures

§ 613 Public record information for employment purposes

§ 614 Restrictions on investigative consumer reports

§ 615 Requirements on users of consumer reports

§ 616 Civil liability for willful noncompliance

§ 617 Civil liability for negligent noncompliance

§ 618 Jurisdiction of courts; limitation of actions

§ 619 Obtaining information under false pretenses

§ 620 Unauthorized disclosures by officers or employees

§ 621 Administrative enforcement

§ 622 Information on overdue child support obligations

§ 623 Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies

§ 624 Affiliate sharing

§ 625 Relation to state laws

§ 626 Disclosures to FBI for counterintelligence purposes

§ 627 Disclosures to governmental agencies for counterterrorism purposes

§ 628 Disposal of records

§ 629 Corporate and technological circumvention prohibited