Credit Repair - Your Rights Under the FCRA

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that was originally passed by Congress in 1970 to promote accuracy, fairness, and the privacy of personal information assembled by Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs). It was last amended in December of 2003.

The FCRA allows a consumer to challenge the information on his credit report on the basis of completeness and accuracy. The FCRA also allows consumers to order a full copy of their credit report from any credit reporting agency. At first, consumers had to pay for these credit reports, but under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) amendment, everyone is entitled to one free copy of his or her credit report every 12 months from each of the big three CRAs. Furthermore, if information on your credit report was used to deny you credit, the FCRA says you have a right to a free copy of that report from the CRA in question.

You have many other rights under the FCRA such as protection from identity theft by placing a “fraud alert” that can last from 90 days to 7 years on your credit reports. But, perhaps the most important rights you have under the FCRA and the reason for this article is your right to dispute inaccurate and erroneous information on your credit report.

You can dispute anything on your credit report, including bankruptcies, charge-offs, collections, foreclosures, judgments, late payments, repossessions and tax liens. Consumers should also look for incorrect personal information such as incorrect names, birth dates, addresses, former addresses, social security numbers, aliases, spouses name, etc. Why is this so important? Keep reading.

A study released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group in June 2004 found that 79% of the consumer credit reports surveyed contained some kind of error or mistake. Consumers may seek a maximum of $1000 in statutory damages, plus actual damages, punitive damages and reasonable attorney's fees and costs for willful noncompliance with the Act. Any consumer may file suit in state or federal court to enforce the Act.
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[Via Credit]