The protection of your personal information and of your credit is an important element of today's society. Between identity theft, law suits, collection cases and simple bill payments - your information may be given to other companies or to third parties. Here are some aspects of protection attributed by the law, which you should be aware of.

First, it's important to know that the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) promotes the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of consumer reporting agencies. The agencies vary from those that sell information about check writing histories, medical records, and rental history records. Second, many states have consumer laws that may protect you and give you recourses in case your rights have been violated. This article will focus on your major rights under the FCRA, many of these rights are recognized or even more strictly enforced by the states.

  • The notice letter- You must be told if information in your file has been used against you. Ever received a letter saying that your application has been denied? Well, that's because anyone who uses a credit report or another type of consumer report to deny your application for credit, insurance, or employment or who takes adverse action against you must tell you and must give you the full contact information (name, address, and phone number) of the agency that provided the information.
  • File disclosure - You have the right to know what is in your file. You may request and obtain all the information in your files of a consumer reporting agency (your “file disclosure”). Please note that in order to obtain this information and in furtherance of your credit's protection, you will have to provide ID and your social security number to obtain a copy of your file. Access to the file, however, may be restricted to people who have a valid need (an application with a creditor, insurer, employer, landlord, or other business). You may request a free file disclosure if:
    • a person has taken adverse action against you because of information in your credit report;
    • you are the victim of identify theft and place a fraud alert in your file;
    • your file contains inaccurate information as a result of fraud;
    • you are on public assistance;
    • you are unemployed but expect to apply for employment within 60 days.
    • every consumer is entitled to one free disclosure every 12 months.See www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore for additional information.
  • You have the right to ask for a credit score. Credit scores are numerical summaries of your creditworthiness based on information from credit bureaus. You may request a credit score from consumer reporting agencies that create scores or distribute scores used in residential real property loans, but you will have to pay for it. In some mortgage transactions, you will receive credit score information for free from the mortgage lender.
  • You have the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. The agency must conduct an investigation if you identify information in your file that is incomplete or inaccurate and you report it to the consumer reporting agency.  See www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore for an explanation of dispute procedures.
  • Correcting or deleting inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information. Inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information must be removed or corrected; the timeframe for doing is usually around 30 days. No changes will take place if the agency verifies that the information was in fact correct.
  • Bankruptcies and outdated information. In most cases, a consumer reporting agency may not report negative information that is more than seven years old, or bankruptcies that are more than 10 years old.
  • You must give your consent for reports to be provided to employers. A consumer reporting agency may not give out information about you to your employer, or a potential employer, without your written consent given to the employer. An exception is that written consent generally is not required in the trucking industry. For more information, go towww.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore.
  • Stopping “Prescreened” offers of credit and insurance. Offers you receive from third parties, such as the credit card or insurance companies and that are unsolicited “prescreened” offers for credit and insurance must include a tollfree phone number. If you wish to remove your name from the list and limit their access to your credit information, you can call may opt out by calling their number. You may also opt-out by calling the nationwide credit bureaus at 1-888-567-8688.
  • Recourses. If a consumer reporting agency, or, in some cases, a user of consumer reports or a furnisher of information to a consumer reporting agency violates the FCRA, you may be able to sue in state or federal court.
  • If you are an identity theft victim or an active duty military personnel, you have additional rights. For more information, visit www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore.

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*This information is not intended as legal advice, but as general information. It does not create a client-attorney relationship or privilege. Please call us if you have any questions or if we can help you.