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The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide
credit reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to
provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request,
once every 12 months. The FCRA promotes the accuracy and privacy of
information in the files of the nation’s credit reporting companies.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection
agency, enforces the FCRA with respect to credit reporting companies.
A credit report includes information on where you live, how you pay
your bills, and whether you’ve been sued or have filed for bankruptcy.
Nationwide credit reporting companies sell the information in your
report to creditors, insurers, employers, and other businesses that
use it to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance,
employment, or renting a home. Here are the details about your rights
under the FCRA, which established the free annual credit report
program. Call (888) 630-5917 to order a free credit report and free
consumer credit counseling. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA. Below
is a summary of the FCRA. The full Act can be obtained directly from
the Federal Trade Commission's web site. Fair Credit Reporting Act
(Summary), Public Law 91-508, The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
allows a consumer to challenge the information on his credit report on
the basis of "completeness and accuracy." If, after a reinvestigation
by the credit bureau, the disputed information "is found to be
inaccurate or can no longer be verified, the [credit bureau] shall
promptly delete such information."
The credit bureaus are required to complete the investigation within a
"reasonable period of time." This period has been set at thirty days.
The credit bureaus can ignore the consumer dispute if they have reason
to believe that the dispute is "frivolous or irrelevant." The FTC
commentary on the FCRA cites, as an example of a frivolous dispute, a
dispute wherein the consumer challenges all negative items on his
credit report without providing any allegations regarding specific
items in the credit file. However, "A [credit bureau] must assume a
consumer's dispute is bona fide, unless there is clear and convincing
evidence to the contrary."
When a consumer challenges a negative credit listing on the basis of
extenuating circumstances, such as health problems, divorce, job loss,
etc., the credit bureaus are entitled to ignore that dispute.
When a consumer submits a dispute which is neither frivolous nor
irrelevant by credit bureau standards, the credit bureau must "at a
minimum... check with the original sources or other reliable sources
of the disputed information and inform them of the nature of the
consumer's dispute." In some cases of consumer dispute,
"Reinvestigation and verification may require more than asking the
original source of the disputed information the same question and
receiving the same answer."
In other words, when a consumer files or re-files a valid dispute, the
credit bureaus must contact the source of the credit information (the
creditor) and confirm that the information is accurate, verifiable,
and not obsolete. In some circumstances, the credit bureau is required
to go beyond a simple verification of the creditor's own computer
record. If, within 30 days, the credit bureau has not received
verification from the creditor, then the credit bureau must promptly
delete the credit listing.
In theory and law, the process is deceptively simple, thus leading
many people to think that they can easily handle this themselves "for
the price of a few postage stamps." Most quickly discover that the
credit bureaus have made it much more difficult than one would imagine.