For
Release:
April 23, 2004
FTC Announces New
Complaint-referral Program
FTC Will Refer Consumer Complaints
to Credit Bureaus
The Federal Trade Commission will refer
consumer complaints to the three major national consumer reporting
agencies (CRAs) under a new program announced today. The FTC
will send the CRAs – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion
– certain complaints from consumers about disputed inaccuracies
or incomplete information in the companies’ files. The
CRAs will review the complaints, correct the files if necessary,
and report the results to the FTC. The program implements
a new provision in the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
The CRAs collect information about consumers,
including payment histories on their debts, and compile the
information into “credit reports.” The CRAs provide
these reports to lenders, other creditors, insurers, employers
and others with a legitimate business need for the information.
Under amendments to the FCRA in the Fair and Accurate Credit
Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act), consumers will have a
right to receive a free copy of their credit report every
year from each of the three national CRAs. Consumers also
have a right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of any
information in their reports. A dispute by a consumer triggers
a reinvestigation by the CRAs and the original source of the
information, as well as a correction, if necessary.
Under the program announced today, the
FTC will refer to the CRAs complaints it receives from consumers
who maintain that their disputes about accuracy or completeness
have not been resolved to their satisfaction. The FTC will
not make any determination about the merits of the complaints.
The CRAs will review the complaints to make sure they have
complied with the applicable provisions of the FCRA, and periodically
provide reports to the FTC on the disposition of a sample
of the complaints. The program does not limit the FTC’s
ability to pursue law enforcement under the FCRA.
“Accurate and complete information
is not only essential to our credit-based economy,”
said Howard Beales, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of
Consumer Protection, “but also to the fair treatment
of consumers. We look forward to working with the CRAs on
this complaint-sharing program.”
For a complete description of the process
for disputing information in a credit report that may contain
inaccurate or incomplete information, see www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fcra.
The FTC works for the consumer to prevent
fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the
marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot,
stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get free
information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free,
1-877-FTC-HELP (1 877-382-4357), or use the complaint form
at http://www.ftc.gov.
The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and
other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure,
online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal
law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jen Schwartzman
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2674
STAFF CONTACT:
Thomas E. Kane
Division of Financial Practices
202-326-3224
(FTC File No. P034304)
(http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/03/cra.htm)
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