Para Informacion en espanol, visite www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore, o escribe a la FTC Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A 600 Pennsylvania Avenue. N.W., Washington DC 20580
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) promotes the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of consumer re porting agencies. There are many types of consumer reporting agencies, including credit bureaus and specialty agencies (such as agencies that sell information about check writing histories, medical records, and rental history records Here is a summary
of your major rights under the FCRA. For more information, including information about additional rights, go to www.consum-
erfinance.gov/learnmore or write to: Consumer financial Protection Bureau, 1700 G Street N.W., Washington, DC 20006.
- You must be told if information in your file has been used against you. Anyone who uses credit report or any other type of consumer report to deny your application for credit, insurance, or employment – or to take adverse action against you – must tell you, and give you the name, address, and phone number of the agency that provided the information. You have the right to know what is in your file. You may request and obtain all the information about you in the files of a con sumer-reporting agency (your “file disclosure” You will be required to provide proper identification, which may include your Social Security number. In many cases, the disclosure will be free. You are entitled to a free file disclosure if:
- A person has taken adverse action against you because of information in your credit file;
- You are the victim of identity theft and place a fraud alert in your file;
- Your file contains inaccurate information as the result of fraud;
- You are on public assistance;
- You are unemployed but expect to apply for employment within 60 days In addition, all consumers are entitled to one free disclosure every 12 months upon request from each nationwide credit bu
reau and from nationwide specialty consumer reporting agencies. See www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore for additional information.
You have the right to ask for a credit score. Credit scores are numerical summaries of your credit-worthiness based on infor mation from credit bureaus. You may request a credit score from consumer reporting agencies that create credit scores or distribute scores used in residential real property loans, but you will have to pay for it. In some mortgage transactions, you will receive credit score information free from the mortgage dispute procedures.
You have the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. If you identify information in your file that is incomplete or inaccurate, and report it to the consumer-reporting agency, the agency must invetstigate unless your dispute is frivolous.
See www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore for an explanation of dispute procedures.
Consumer reporting agencies must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information. Inaccurate, incom plete or unverifiable information must be removed or corrected, usually within 30 days. However a consumer reporting agency may continue to report information it has verified as accurate.
Consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information. In most cases, a consumer-reporting agency may not report negative information that is more than seven years old, or bankruptcies that are more than 10 years old.
Access to your file is limited. A consumer report agency may provide information about you only to people with a valid need – usually to consider an application with a creditor, insurer, employer, landlord, or other business. The FCRA specifies those with a valid need for access.
You must give your consent for reports to be provided to employers. A consumer-reporting agency may not give out informa tion about your to your employer, or potential employer, without your written consent given to the employer. Written consent
generally is not required in the trucking industry. For more information go to www.consumerfinance.gov/learnmore.
You may limit “prescreened” offers of credit and insurance you get based on information in your credit report. Unsolicited “prescreened” offers of credit and insurance must include a toll-free number you can call if you choose to remove your name and address from the lists these offers are based on. You may opt-out with the nationwide credit bureaus at 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688)
You may seek damages from violators. If a consumer reporting agency, or, in some cases, a user of consumer reports or a furnisher of information to a consumer reporting agency violates the FCRA, you may be able to sue in state or federal court.