The full text of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is available online; however, it is eighty-six pages long, making it difficult to determine its meaning quickly. Read on for a summary of what the Fair Credit Reporting Act consists of…

Consumer Reporting Agencies, also referred to as CRAs, gather and provide consumer data which is used in credit evaluations, and is the basis for a credit report, according to wikipedia.org. The Federal Trade Commission website indicates that such agencies sell the data to potential creditors, landlords, employers, insurers, and others. The data contains such information as details about how often an individual paid bills on time and if he or she has declared bankruptcy in the past. According to the FTC, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) encourages CRAs to maintain fair, private (relatively), and accurate data.

As indicated by the FTC, the FCRA provides a number of rights to consumers in regard to the activities of CRAs. One of these rights is the ability to request the data on file with a particular CRA. Consumers are allowed to do this for free once every twelve month period from each national CRA, and are also eligible to request it for free in some situations, especially those involving fraud. Another right provided by the Act is the ability to request a numerical credit score from CRAs which use them; however, consumers have to pay for this in some situations.

The FCRA also requires anyone who applies the data provided by a CRA to deny or take other negative action against someone to notify the affected person of this and supply details on the CRA which generated the data. Additionally, consumers have the right to dispute data held by CRAs which is “incomplete” or false, and the CRA is required to remove such information if it cannot be verified. The Fair Credit Reporting Act also prohibits CRAs from reporting negative information over seven years old, and bankruptcies which happened over ten years ago, in most situations.

Other rights made available by the FCRA pertain to the privacy of consumers. According to the FTC, these rights restrict CRA data access to businesses and individuals with a “valid” reason, and require most types of employers to gain written consent from potential or current employees before requesting information from a CRA about them. It also provides a right allowing consumers to request not to receive unsolicited insurance and credit offers which are based upon credit report data.

The FTC also indicates that active-duty military personnel and victims of identity theft are entitled to more rights under the FCRA, and some individual states have laws providing additional rights related to consumer reporting agencies. Individuals can bring federal or state lawsuits against violators of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including CRAs and some types of CRA data suppliers or users.