Fair Credit Reporting Act - Information to help you deal with the credit bureaus and creditorsFair Credit Reporting Act is a law that regulates how consumer information is collected and used. The law was originally passed in 1970 when it was determined that the methods credit bureaus used to collect and use information about consumers was not fair and needed some oversight from higher powers. The act is enforced by the US Federal Trade Commission.(continued below)Credit bureaus gather credit information about consumers which is later used by lending institutions to access risk when giving out loans to consumers. Without a law to govern how credit bureaus collect and use information collected about you, it can easily cost consumers millions of dollars in interest charges from loans that are not evaluated with the proper data. The credit bureaus have responsibilities under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Here are some of those responsibilities: Consumer access to Credit Report- The FCRA has made available to consumers their credit reports by having the credit bureaus come up with a way to provide consumers with their reports through a centralized website, or request it via mail free of charge. Dispute negative account information - The law allows you to dispute accounts on your credit reports that are not accurate and the credit bureaus must take your dispute seriously by launching an investigation of the account in question. It is also very important that you understand that negative accounts which you dispute, that cannot be PROVED TO BE ACCURATE by the creditor or information furnisher must be deleted!
Notifications of changes on consumer reports- You are also entitled to know when negative or derogatory information is going to be placed on your report by any creditor. This gives you the opportunity to challenge or dispute the item before total damage is done. The law also requires that you are informed before such information is placed back on your credit report in the event you get it deleted.
Reporting period of negative information- Negative account data such as late payments, collection accounts, bankruptcies, judgments and tax liens are not to stay on your credit report indefinitely. Each has its own timeline after which the negative data should be deleted from your credit report.
Most negatives are to be removed after seven years from the date of last delinquency with the exception of bankruptcies which would be ten years and judgments which would be seven years from the time they are paid.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is to be taken seriously by credit bureaus as well as the creditors that provide the information to the bureaus.
They both can be held accountable in court for willful or negligent violations of the FCRA. A consumer may recover either actual damages or a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $1000 plus reasonable attorney fees for willful noncompliance of the act.
If a negligent violation is present then actual damages can be recovered plus reasonable attorney fees. Recent
do it yourself credit repair
pages you might be interested in:
|
