Your Rights Regarding Your Credit Report


Granted that the three nationwide credit reporting agencies have to issue you with a paid or free credit report once a year but the duties of the CRAs don’t just end there. The Fair Credit Report Act is clear in establishing your rights and protection clauses too. It is essential that every one of us know our lawful rights to fair information, privacy and protection against misuse of information before printing on your credit report or after.

Here is a brief of important clauses in the FCRA as regards to consumers.
1. Your prospective employer or employers must obtain your written permission to see your credit report but creditors, landlords, debt collectors etc need not. But the credit report must mention all such accesses.
2. Anyone refusing to deal with you or grant credit must tell if they have seen your credit report and the contact details of where they got the information from. This tantamount to misusing of your credit report against you.
3. Right to know the details of your file. In most cases, you can freely request the details of your credit file (File disclosure). Instances like someone declining your credit application based on the credit report or suspected identity theft etc warrant a file disclosure request.
4. You can dispute an inaccurate or incomplete information
5. You can check your credit score
6. You can demand the credit reporting agencies to correct or erase discrepant information within 30 days.
7. You have right to sue the consumer reporting agency, end user of your credit report or those who furnished the information in the court of law and claim damages if the inaccurate or incomplete information caused you damages.
8. If you are on active military duty or if your identity theft is provable, you have special rights which you can find from www.ftc.gov/credit.
9. Credit reporting agencies can’t deny you credits. They are not in the business of advising or deciding whether someone can be granted credit or not.
10. All the three credit reporting agencies can organize lists of contact details for use by direct marketing companies. The companies are legally allowed to see your report too. However the CRAs can’t sell the information for the purpose of marketing, to the marketing companies. You can ‘opt-out’ of the marketing lists by using their toll free numbers.

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