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Credit Reporting: The Fair Credit
Reporting Act
The
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), enforced by
the Federal Trade Commission, promotes accuracy in
consumer reports and is meant to ensure the privacy of
the information in them. The FCRA was recently amended by the
Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) (PL 108-159, 12/04/03).
The FACTA requires the Commission and other agencies to implement many of the new provisions
of the FCRA by means of rules and regulations to be issued in 2004.
If you've ever applied for a charge account, personal
loan, insurance, or job, there's a file about you. This
file contains information on where you work and live,
how you pay your bills and whether you’ve been sued,
arrested, or have filed for bankruptcy. Companies that
gather and sell this information are called Consumer
Reporting Agencies (CRAs). The most common type of CRA
is the credit bureau. The activities of other CRAs –
such as tenant or employment screening services, or
agencies whose data is limited to your checkwriting
history – that offer reports on consumers in specific
situations are also governed by the FCRA. CRAs may sell
information about you to creditors, employers, insurers,
and other businesses in the form of a consumer report.
In addition to credit reports on file with credit
bureaus, the FCRA may govern other files of information
collected and maintained on consumers, depending on
their content and use. Medical information and
information used to prevent and detect fraud are
sometimes governed by the FCRA.
Learn more about consumer rights and business
responsibilities under the FCRA by reviewing our
Consumer Education and Business Guidance sections. To see the Commission’s recent FCRA
enforcement activities, click here.
You can also review our Commission Testimony,
information about our FCRA related workshops,
and our
press releases
and
staff opinion letters. |
