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Due to the high volume of complaints regarding credit
report errors, the government has enacted specific laws
to protect the consumer and has established certain
policies and procedures for bureaus and creditors to
follow.
The two most comprehensive pieces of legislation, which
also contain the most protection, are the Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act (FDCPA). These acts hold bureaus and
creditors legally responsible for all claims they make
against the consumer.
The FCRA states that all information on a credit report
must be ACCURATE, TIMELY, and VERIFIABLE in order for it
to legally remain on a report. If an item does not meet
this criterion, the consumer is allowed to dispute it.
The bureaus and creditors are given 30 days to provide
adequate and documented evidence to verify the
information. If the item cannot be verified, it must be
removed. Credit bureaus do not verify information before
placing it on a credit report. This alone could result
in 40% of your credit report being inaccurate in one way
or another.
Considering the lucrative profit the bureaus make by
selling our information over and over, we are merely
asking them to do their job by making sure what they are
selling is accurate, timely, and verifiable.
We, here, at Credit Repair Corporation, believe in our
constitution, which states that the client is innocent
until proven guilty; unlike the bureaus, who seem to
believe that the consumer is guilty until proven
innocent.
BASIC RIGHTS OF THE FCRA:
The right to know if information in your file has been
used against you: If anyone uses information from a
credit reporting agency (CRA) to take action against you
(e.g., denial of credit, insurance, employment) they
must notify you and provide the name, address, and phone
number of the CRA that supplied the consumer report.
The right to know what is in your file: Upon request,
CRAs must disclose file information and lists of
everyone who has requested it within recent months.
The right to dispute inaccurate information with credit
reporting agencies: When you notify a CRA of
inaccuracies on your report, the agency must investigate
the items within thirty days, unless the dispute is
frivolous.
The right to have inaccurate information corrected or
deleted: If adverse information cannot be verified, the
CRA must correct or remove the information, usually
within thirty days of the initial dispute.
The right to dispute inaccurate information with the
creditor: When you notify a creditor that you are
disputing an item, the creditor cannot report it to the
CRA without including a notice of your dispute.
Additionally, once you have begun the dispute process,
the creditor cannot continue to report the discrepancy.
The right for outdated information to be deleted from
your credit report: CRAs do not have the right to report
negative information that is more than seven years old,
and bankruptcies that are more than ten years old.
The right to privacy: The CRA can only provide
information to those who are recognized by the FCRA as
having a need to view the information, such as a
creditor or landlord. Reports provided to employers
(including prospective employers) or that contain
medical information cannot be dispensed without your
written consent.
The right to privacy also includes consumers being able
to exclude their name from a CRA list for unsolicited
credit and insurance offers. These offers must include a
toll-free number where consumers can request to have
their name and address removed from future lists. The
exclusion is only good for two years. To be excluded
from lists indefinitely, you must request a mail list
exclusion form provided by the CRA.
The right to seek damages from violators: If anyone
violates the statutes of the FCRA, you may sue them in a
state or federal court. Many different federal agencies
are given authority to enforce the FCRA.
The bureaus and creditors violate these rights everyday.
However, they will do what they can to maintain their
innocence and frustrate the consumer's efforts to right
the wrong. Even though the bureaus give instructions on
how to dispute items; they even provide a section on
their website to dispute on-line, they do not like
disputes. In fact, they detest them. It is costly of
their time and resources to verify information. They
have many different strategies to discourage consumers
from disputing.
Here's where Credit Repair Corporation comes in. We
simply require the bureaus and creditors to uphold the
law and will hold them responsible for violating any
aspect of federal law. When violations occur, the
bureaus and creditors are required to remove the
negative item from your report. We're here to make sure
that happens.
To learn more about the FCRA and FDCPA go to http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.htm
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