Mortgage Foreclosure & Refinance Resource

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a United States federal law (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.) that regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer credit information. Along with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), it forms the base of consumer credit rights in the United States.

The purpose of FCRA is to require that consumer reporting agencies adopt reasonable procedures for meeting the needs of commerce for consumer credit, personnel, insurance, and other information in a manner which is fair to the consumer, with regard to the confidentiality, accuracy, relevancy, and proper utilization of information.

Besides dictating the rules to the financial institutions the FCRA also establishes procedures for correcting mistakes on one’s credit record. The FCRA is responsible for the following practices:

• You must be told if information in your file has been used against you.
• You can find out what is in your credit report file.
• You can dispute inaccurate information with the credit reporting agency.
• Inaccurate information must be corrected or deleted.
• You can dispute inaccurate items with the source of the information.
• Outdated information may not be reported. In most cases, a CRA may not report negative information that is more than seven years old; ten years for bankruptcies.
• Access to your file is limited. The credit reporting agency may provide information about you only to people with a need recognized by the FCRA — usually to consider an application with a creditor, insurer, employer, landlord, or other business.
• Your consent is required for reports that are provided to employers, or reports that contain medical information.
• You may choose to exclude your name from credit reporting agency lists for unsolicited credit and insurance offers
• You may seek damages from violators.