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Fair Credit Reporting Act |
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Originally enacted in 1971, the Fair Credit Reporting Act is administered by the Federal Trade Commission. The Act was created as a way for consumers to keep track the information that the major credit reporting bureaus are telling (and selling to) authorized third parties. Since the credit bureaus sell quite a bit of your personal information, the Act clearly defines to whom your most personal information can be sold.
The credit bureaus can sell any or all of the information that they put onto your credit report. That includes your name, address and employer, your payment history, any court orders you’ve been involved in such as bankruptcies, the amount of all your open credit lines and more.
One especially important aspect of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is the imposition of a hefty fine in the event your personal information is sold or given away to an individual or entity that is not recognized by the FCRA as needing it. The Act also states that employers, prospective employers and those in the medical field cannot access your information with first receiving prior written consent from you.
Since the information on your credit report is used to calculate your credit score, the Fair Credit Reporting Act also provides strict guidelines on what creditors are and are not able to forward to the credit reporting bureaus in the event you and a creditor are involved in disputing an issue. This protection is invaluable when you consider that a single missed or late payment can wreak havoc on your credit score and possibly even the interest rates you are charged.
Should some portion of the information the credit reporting bureau has on you be determined to be inaccurate, the credit bureau that is involved must delete that information at once. The Fair Credit Reporting Act also states that the credit bureau must immediately notify the other major credit reporting bureaus of the deletion and that those bureaus must update their information accordingly.
There are other provisions in the Fair Credit Reporting Act that help to protect consumers including giving consumers the right to opt-out of receiving future unsolicited offers and the ability for consumers to initiate legal action should such action be warranted. If you have an issue with one of the credit reporting bureaus, be sure to find out your rights by consulting the full text of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
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Credit Card Definitions > F - M > Fair Credit Reporting Act
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