The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was written by staff members of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to regulate the use and compilation of the personal information of consumers by private businesses. It was first prepared in the early 1970's to regulate the actions of the Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRA's) and to protect the information of consumers. It has since been updated to fit today's needs; the most recent amendment was June 14th, 2008. The following is a description of items discussed in the FCRA.
Consumer Reporting Agencies are companies such as Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion-- companies who provide complete and accurate credit reports to and about consumers. Under the FCRA, they are required to provide a credit report to each consumer every 12 months as requested. They also must remove any negative information brought about by disputes and can't include any negative information on the report without telling the consumer within 5 days. Negative information is only on a consumer's credit report for a limited amount of time; most of it is removed within 7 years of the initial discovery.
Information furnishers, such as creditors (credit card companies, mortgage companies, etc.), give information to the CRA's to help them generate the credit reports. They also have to follow regulations provided by the FCRA that state they must provide complete and accurate information, investigate any disputes and either correct them or fight them within a 90 day period, and they must inform the consumers of any negative information on their accounts within 30 days.
Companies who use the information on the credit reports, such as any company who checks a consumer's credit to see if they qualify for a loan or an employer doing a background check, must notify the consumer of any reason why they decide to not grant credit. They must also identify the CRA who provided the credit report so that the consumer can confirm or dispute any information that caused their credit to be denied.
Violations of the FCRA are punished depending on what the crime is. If a staff member of a CRA willfully abuses the Act, the consumer that is affected gets damages or minimum $100 or maximum $1,000, plus any lawyer's fees if necessary. If it was a negligent violation, the consumer gets damages and a lawyer, and in some cases the consumer can file a lawsuit to enforce the regulations of the FCRA. The statute of limitations in this suit is 2 years from the discovery to 5 years from the actual violation.
You as the consumer have rights within the FCRA regarding your Identity and your personal information:
• The CRA's must give you your credit report upon request
• They must limit access to your information (they must have permissible purpose to give it out)
• They must have your consent before giving out your credit report (for example, you must give your potential employer consent before they check your credit)
• They must investigate any dispute on your report that you notify them about
• They must correct or delete information that is inaccurate
• They must delete any information that is past 7 years old
• At your request, they must remove you from junk mail lists
• They must provide you with your credit score upon request (they can charge a fee)
• They must provide military and identity theft alerts if necessary
• They must help to fix any effects of identity theft on your report
• They must contact you if your report is ever used against you
• Security freezes can be put on your reports in certain states
• You have the right to seek damages if you discover any violations of the FCRA
