Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

Summary of FCRA Rights

Credit Report Privacy

Because your credit report contains private information about you, it is important that you know your legal rights as a consumer. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and state laws restrict who has access to your sensitive credit information and what uses can be made of it. Credit reporting agencies like Equifax have also adopted voluntary guidelines to enhance their consumer services.

Basically, Your Rights as a Consumer Include:

• Obtaining a copy of your credit report (for free, in certain circumstances)
• Knowing who has received a copy of your report or inquired about it
• Disputing inaccurate information
• Having negative information on your report explained
• "Opting-Out" to prevent credit agencies from using your information for marketing purposes
• Contacting the appropriate government agency or filing a lawsuit

Information That Can Be Included in Your Credit Report:

• Your identifying information
• Your employment/salary information
• Credit information (applications for credit cards, payment history, etc)
• Public record information
• Late payments reported by utility companies, hospitals, landlords and other
• Overdrawn accounts reported by banks
• Late credit card, auto loan, mortgage payments reported by banks
• Delinquent child support payments
• Debts being collected by collection agencies

Information That Is Not Included:

• Your race
• Your religion
• Your current health or medical history
• Your driving record
• Your criminal record
• Your political preference
• Notice of bankruptcy (Chapter 11) that is more than 10 years old
• Debts that are more than 7 years old

When you order a copy of your credit report from a credit reporting agency, it will include information about who has requested a copy of your report or inquired about your file in the last six months. Inquiries related to pre-approved offers, as well as inquiries you make yourself, are not available to credit grantors, but are included in the credit reports you order for yourself.

Who Can Access Credit Reports?

Anyone with an FCRA permissible purpose, such as:

• Potential lenders
• Landlords
• Insurance companies
• Employers & potential employers (usually only with your written consent)
• Companies with which you have a credit account for account monitoring purposes
• Entities considering your application for a government license or benefit (if the agency must consider your financial status)
• A state or local child support enforcement agency
• Any government agency (name, address, former addresses, current & former employees)
• Someone to whom you have instructed the credit reporting agency to provide a credit report on you

How to Obtain a Copy of Your Credit Report

By law, you are entitled to disclosure of your credit file. In certain circumstances, you are entitled to a free report no matter where you live. These circumstances are:

• Each consumer is allowed to receive one free report annually.
• If you are unemployed and intend to apply for unemployment in the next 60 days
• If you are on public welfare assistance
• If you have reason to believe your file contains inaccurate information due to fraud
• If you have been the subject of an adverse decision, such as denial of credit, insurance or employment within the past 60 days

To request a copy of your credit file from Equifax, please contact us by mail or by phone:

When requesting a credit file by mail, be sure to include your full name, address, Social Security number and most recent former address for file matching purposes.

Correcting Errors on Your Credit Report

Both state and federal laws give you the right to dispute information in your credit file in order to have errors corrected. To do this:

• Notify the credit reporting agency (CRA) of your dispute (each CRA has a toll-free number for this purpose).
• The agency then contacts the source of the disputed information and must correct any errors.
• If disputed information on your report cannot be verified, it must be deleted.
• If you disagree with the result of the CRA's investigation, you have the right to submit a 100-word explanation and this explanation must be included in your credit file.
• Check your credit file periodically to see that information that has been removed has not been re-inserted. (Deleted information may not be re-inserted into your file unless the agency takes steps to have the source of the information certify that it is complete and accurate.)

Opting Out

You can remove your name from any list compiled by a credit reporting agency that can be resold and used for pre-approved credit offers. This action is referred to as "opting out." To opt out, call the toll-free number: (888) 5OPTOUT or (888) 567-8688. This number can be used to remove your name from all three agencies. You may also go online to receive opting out instructions given by each agency.

Additional Contact Information

The Credit Reporting Industry is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

FCRA - A complete copy of the The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) published by the FTC web site.

Source: Equifax Information Services LLC