The Fair Credit Reporting Act Gives Crucial Rights to Consumers

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to inspect your credit profile. It no longer has to be a mystery what is contained in your credit file, what your credit rating might be, and also why you were denied credit when you recently attempted to apply for a loan. Instead, a simple phone call, online request, or written notification that you wish to receive your credit file must be honored by the credit bureaus. It is customary that each and every consumer has the right to a free copy of their credit files once a year or in the wake of being denied credit. A request because of the latter usually needs to be received no later than 30-90 days from the day the denial of credit notification was received by the consumer.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to dispute factual information in your credit profile. If you find information you believe to be incorrect, incomplete, or otherwise erroneous, you have the right to dispute it with the credit bureau. You are required to do so in writing. From the day the credit reporting agency received your dispute, the bureau has 30 days to investigate your claim. Usually this involves their contacting the creditors in question and asking for a validation of the notation. If the creditor cannot validate the debt with the credit bureau, it has to be removed from your credit profile. You must be notified in writing of any results such a dispute has brought.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act also gives you the right to place a short summary statement under a notation in your credit profile. This is usually done when you disagree with the credit bureau and also the creditor. The summary may be brief and indicate that this particular debt in question is currently the subject of a dispute between you and the credit issuer. In some cases, consumers take this forum to explain their side of a dispute that simply cannot seem to get settled. It is noteworthy that the summary does not influence the credit rating and most likely also will not increase a consumer’s chances at getting a credit denial reversed.

On the flipside, the Fair Credit Reporting Act does not give you the right to dispute items that are factually correct. This is especially germane when the notation is less than flattering and the consumer would prefer not to have it included in the credit profile. Such notations are accurate and will stay for about seven to 10 years, depending on the nature of the debt and the amount of time that the law permits negative notations to remain on the file. Even if a notation in the credit profile cannot be proven within the prescribed 30 days the credit bureau has to validate a debt, it may still be added back onto the credit profile later on, if the credit reporting agency determines at a later date that it was, in fact, an accurate listing.

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