You must be told if information
in your file has been used against you.
Anyone who uses information from a CRA 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 CRA that provided the consumer report.
You can find out what is
in your file.
At your request, a CRA 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
CRA, if you request 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 CRA may charge you up to eight dollars.
You can dispute inaccurate
information with the CRA.
If you tell a CRA that your file contains inaccurate information,
the CRA must investigate the items (usually within 30 days)
by presenting to its information source all relevant evidence
you submit, unless your dispute is frivolous. The source
must review your evidence and report its finding to the
CRA. (The source also advise national CRAs - to which
it has provided the data - of any error.) The CRA must
give you a written report of the investigation, and a copy
of your report if the investigation results in any change.
If the CRA's investigation does not resolve the dispute,
you may add a brief statement to your file. The CRA must
normally 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.
Inaccurate information
must be corrected or deleted.
A CRA must remove or correct inaccurate or unverified information
from its files, usually within 30 days after you dispute
it. However, the CRA is not required to remove accurate
data from your file unless it is outdated (as described
below) or cannot be verified. If your dispute results in
any change to your report, the CRA cannot reinsert into
your file a disputed item unless the information source
verifies its accuracy and completeness. In addition, the
CRA must give you a written notice telling you it has reinserted
the item. The notice must include the name, address, and
phone number of the information source.
You can dispute inaccurate
items with the source of the information.
If you tell anyone - such as a creditor who reports
to a CRA - that you dispute an item, they may not then
report the information to a CRA without including a report
the information if it is, in fact, an error.
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.
A CRA may provide information about you only to people with
a need recognized by the FCRA - usually to consider
an application with a creditor, insurer, landlord, or other
business.
Your consent is required
for reports that are provided to employers, or reports that
contain medical information.
A CRA may not give out information about you to your employer,
or prospective employer, without your written consent. A
CRA may not report medical information about you to creditors,
insurers, and employers without your permission.
You may choose to exclude
your name from CRA lists unsolicited credit insurance offers.
Creditors and insurers may use file information as the basis
for sending you unsolicited offers of credit insurance.
Such offers must include a toll-free phone number for you
to call if you want your name and address removed from future
lists. If you call, you must be kept off the lists for two
years. If you request, complete, and return the CRA form
provided for this purpose, you must be taken off the lists
indefinitely.
You may seek damages from
violators.
If a CRA, a user or (in some cases) a provider if CRA data,
violates the FCRA, you may sue them in state or federal
court.
