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The Fair Credit Reporting Act: Know Your Rights
   

Most likely, if you are 18 years or older and have applied for a line of credit, applied for a job, or a loan, there is a file with all your consumer information. This includes information on where you live and work, your bill payment history, whether or not you have been sued or arrested or if you have filed for bankruptcy. This is called a consumer report and can be used or sold by the Consumer Reporting Agency. What does this have to do with the Fair Credit Reporting Act? This act gives you the right to view your own personal consumer report and the information contained in it.

The Federal Trade Commission is the group that enforces this act. The act also places certain restrictions on the Consumer Reporting Agencies. This act is also used to ensure accuracy and privacy of the information that is gathered about you and placed in your consumer report. You may have some additional rights that are unique to your own situation in your state. You must check with your state Attorney General for more information regarding this.

A lot of people may ask how you can find your own personal consumer report. Just because you have the right to see it, doesn't always make it easy to find it. You can find these credit reporting agencies in your local yellow pages under credit reporting, you should be able to contact each of the three major ones in regards to your consumer report. The three main ones are called Equifax, Esperian, and TransUnion. You should do your best to get a hold of each one to get a complete view of your own personal consumer report. In regards to the three main CRAs, you have the right to find out which one provided any report that may have been used in denying your application for credit. Another part of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is that you must understand that you have he right to know everything in your report. This includes any medical information contained within it, the source of any information and who has requested to see your report within in the last year, up to two years if it was employee related. Most people don't realize this, because if they did they would take better advantage of it.

A lot of people think that getting a credit report is always free. But this is not necessarily true. Surprisingly under the Fair Credit Reporting Act they can charge you, usually around nine dollars, except in certain situations. One of these situations is if you have been denied any kind of credit or loan, you are allowed a free credit report within sixty days of the denial, in order to see who it was that may have denied you. Another situation where you may receive a free credit report according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act is once a year in the event that you are unemployed and planning to look for a job within the next sixty days, if you are on welfare or if you have been the victim of fraud.

A very important right you now have under the Fair Credit Reporting Act is in regards to correcting any mistakes that may appear on your report when looking at it. The responsibility now falls on both the Credit Reporting Agency and the company that provided the information to them. This also means for you, that you have the responsibility to contact both of these businesses to ask them to correct the mistake that has been found. You must notify both of them in writing only. The reporting agency must investigate within thirty days and then notify you back in writing with the results. If they verify that it is incorrect and your report is changed, you are entitled to a free credit report with the new information. As far as the company that has reported the information to the credit agency they will want an address to verify and if they agree in the end that there was a mistake are not allowed to use it again. If the credit reporting agency won't change the information your best bet is to ask them to include a copy of your dispute in future reports that they issue.

A few other things you should know about your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act is that there are certain instances where your personal permission is needed to release any information on your credit report. For example, if an employer requests it, they must have your written permission, usually this form is included in pre-employment applications. Also anyone who wishes to see your medical information contained on your report, such as an insurance company, they must have your permission to do so, otherwise they will not be allowed to see this. Some people may want to know how long information can stay on your report. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act most information can only stay on your report for seven years. There are some exceptions that include criminal convictions which have no limit, bankruptcies can stay on up to ten years, any job that has been applied for with salaries over $75,000 have no limit, any application for life insurance or credit over $150,000 has no limit, and anything regarding a lawsuit or judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations is up, whichever happens to be longer. Other than that, the seven-year rule still applies.

You should also be advised of your rights under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that gives you the right to know exactly why you were denied. It also allows you to supply any additional information about your credit history that may be missing from the report. You should also be aware of the agencies you should talk to concerning any legitimate problems with having your rights violated according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. These include the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Response Center (FCRA). Now that you are fully aware of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act you can fully take advantage of the information that is contained in your credit report. To fully take advantage of it means a greater understanding of where you stand and how you can get where you want to be, good luck!

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by SolveYourProblem.com : 2007

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