The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) applies to all three Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs), Experian, TranUnion, and Equifax, along with data furnishers such as banks, credit unions, credit card companies, and also entities that ‘use’ your credit information to make decisions to approve or deny a credit application, such as apartment complexes, and each entity has their own set of rules that they must follow.
To better understand your rights as a consumer, we will explain the standards that these entities must live up to, and how to recognize when your rights have been violated and what action you are entitled to take to protect yourself.
Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs)
Credit Reporting Agencies, Equifax. Experian, and TransUnion are front and center as they are responsible for holding and managing your consumer credit data, and as such, these entities are held to a very high standard under the FCRA to ensure that your credit information is safe, secure, and fairly used.
CRAs are charged with:
- Restricting your information, and when applicable, provide access only to those entities who have a ‘permissible purpose’ to view and to use your credit report
- Investigate disputed information, unless the CRA deems the dispute as ‘frivolous’ or they do not have enough information to conduct an investigation
- Provide you a copy of your credit report when requested by you, and also under certain other circumstances, such as when you are on welfare, seeking employment within 60 days, or have placed a fraud alert on your credit profile, however, you must still make the request.
Data Furnishers (Credit Card Companies, Banks, Lenders)
- Required to fairly and accurately report credit histories and information to the CRAs
- Inform you within 30 days that a negative mark has been reported to your credit report
- Inform the CRA when an account has been voluntarily closed
- Respond to identity theft notices from the CRAs
- Must not report accounts identified as the result of identity theft
- Cannot report inaccurate information to the CRAs
- Promptly correct any inaccurate or misleading information reported to the CRAs
Other Entities: Apartments, Insurance Companies
Any entity who ‘uses’ your credit report or credit score to process and to screen applications for the purpose of approving or denying an application to rent an apartment, or to determine rates for insurance purposes, also fall under the FCRA rules.
If declined, the entity must inform you:
- that your credit report was used to make their decision
- of the name and address of the CRA that provided the credit report
Many FCRA violations can be addressed and corrected through corresponding with the appropriate Credit Reporting Agency, and if necessary, with the furnisher of the information.
In extreme circumstances, where you receive little to no cooperation with addressing your concerns from the CRA or the furnisher, or if you find that you are outright being ignored by these entities, it may be necessary to retain the services of a credit lawyer, however, it will be necessary for you to have your complaint in proper order to present a good case to the attorney.
We will dive deeper into this process as we move forward.
