Summary of Your FCRA Rights
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law designed to promote accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of every consumer reporting agency. Most consumer reporting agencies are credit bureaus that gather and sell information about you -- such as if you pay your loans and other bills on time or have filed bankruptcy -- to housing providers, creditors, insurance companies, employers, and other service providers such as utility and telephone companies. The FCRA gives you specific rights, as outlined below. You may have additional rights under state law. You may contact a state or local consumer protection agency or a state attorney general to learn those rights.FCRA Rights:
- You can find out what is in your file. At your request, a credit reporting agency must give you the information in your file, and a list of everyone who has requested it recently. There is no charge for the report if a person has taken action against you because of information supplied by the credit reporting agency, if you request the report within 60 days of receiving notice of the action. You also are entitled to one free report every twelve months upon request if you certify that (1) you are unemployed and plan to seek employment within 60 days, (2) you are on welfare, or (3) your report is inaccurate due to fraud. Otherwise, a credit reporting agency may charge you up to eight dollars. Click on the credit reports and history section of this website for more information.
- You can dispute inaccurate information with the credit reporting agency. If you tell a credit reporting agency that your file contains inaccurate information, the agency must investigate the items. The agency must give you a written report of the investigation, and a copy of your report if the investigation results in any change. If the credit reporting agency's investigation does not resolve the dispute, you may add a brief statement to your file. The credit reporting agency must include a summary of your statement in future reports. If an item is deleted or a dispute statement is filed, you may ask that anyone who has recently received your report be notified of the change. Click on the credit reports and history section of this website for more information.
- Inaccurate information must be corrected or deleted. A credit reporting agency must remove or correct inaccurate or unverified information from its files, usually within 30 days after you dispute it. However, the agency is not required to remove accurate data from your file unless it is outdated or cannot be verified.
- You must be told if information in your file has been used against you. Anyone who uses information from a credit reporting agency to take action against you -- such as denying an application for credit, insurance, or employment -- must tell you, and give you the name, address, and phone number of the credit reporting agency that provided the consumer report.
- Outdated information may not be reported. In most cases, a credit reporting agency may not report negative information that is more than seven years old; ten years for bankruptcies.
