| A good credit rating is very important.
Businesses inspect your credit history when they
evaluate your applications for credit,
insurance, employment, and even leases. They can
use it when they choose to give or deny you
credit or insurance, provided you receive fair
and equal treatment. Sometimes, things happen
that can cause credit problems: a temporary loss
of income, an illness, even a computer error.
Solving credit problems may take time and
patience, but it doesn’t have to be an ordeal.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces
the credit laws that protect your right to get,
use and maintain credit. These laws do not
guarantee that everyone will receive credit.
Instead, the credit laws protect your rights by
requiring businesses to give all consumers a
fair and equal opportunity to get credit and to
resolve disputes over credit errors. This
brochure explains your rights under these laws
and offers practical tips to help you solve
credit problems.
Your Credit Report
Your credit report contains information about
where you live, how you pay your bills, and
whether you’ve been sued, arrested, or filed for
bankruptcy. Consumer reporting companies sell
the information in your report to businesses
that use it to evaluate your applications for
credit, insurance, employment, or renting a
home.
The federal Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA) promotes the
accuracy and privacy of information in the files
of the nation’s consumer reporting companies.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act:
- You have the right to receive a copy of
your credit report. The copy of your report
must contain all the information in your
file at the time of your request.
- Each of the nationwide consumer
reporting companies – Equifax, Experian,
and TransUnion – is required to provide
you with a free copy of your credit
report, at your request, once every 12
months. The companies are rolling this
out across the country during a
nine-month period. By September 2005,
consumers from coast to coast will have
access to a free annual credit report if
they ask for it. For details, see
Your Access to Free Credit Reports
at
ftc.gov/credit.
- Under federal law, you’re also
entitled to a free report if a company
takes adverse action against you, like
denying your application for credit,
insurance, or employment, and you ask
for your report within 60 days of
receiving notice of the action. The
notice will give you the name, address,
and phone number of the consumer
reporting company. You’re also entitled
to one free report a year if you’re
unemployed and plan to look for a job
within 60 days; if you’re on welfare; or
if your report is inaccurate because of
fraud, including identity theft.
- Otherwise, a consumer reporting
company may charge you up to $9.50 for
another copy of your report within a
12-month period.
- You have the right to know who asked for
your report within the past year – two years
for employment related requests.
- If a company denies your application,
you have the right to the name and address
of the consumer reporting company they
contacted, provided the denial was based on
information given by the consumer reporting
company.
- If you question the accuracy or
completeness of information in your report,
you have the right to file a dispute with
the consumer reporting company and the
information provider (that is, the person,
company, or organization that provided
information about you to the consumer
reporting company). Both the consumer
reporting company and the information
provider are obligated to investigate your
claim, and responsible for correcting
inaccurate or incomplete information in your
report. For details, see
How to Dispute Credit Report Errors at
ftc.gov/credit.
- You have a right to add a summary
explanation to your credit report if your
dispute is not resolved to your
satisfaction. You also can ask the consumer
reporting company to provide your statement
to anyone who received a copy of your report
in the recent past. You can expect to pay a
fee for this service
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