The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) And You

Your credit report gets viewed by other people besides credit
grantors. Potential employers and insurance companies can deny
you employment, auto and home owner's insurance based on your
credit report. Understand your rights protected by The Fair
Credit Reporting Act.

No matter what many credit counseling scam artists may try to
tell you, no one can legally remove any information that is
up-to-date and accurate from your credit report. They can't do
it, and you can't do it yourself. However, you CAN request an
investigation of anything you find in your credit file that you
believe to be either incomplete or inaccurate. That is perfectly
legal, and can be done at NO cost to you. In fact, anything that
a credit repair company offers to do for you can be done
yourself, generally free or for a nominal fee.

In fact, there's a law that guarantees it. It's called the Fair
Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Under provisions of the FCRA, you
are entitled to receive a free credit report if a company
denies your application for credit, employment, or insurance.
You must ask for the report within sixty days of the refusal,
and the company must tell you which credit reporting company
they used, and provide you with their address and phone number.
(The three nationwide companies most often used are Experian,
TransUnion, and Equifax.)

The FCRA has made it mandatory for consumer credit reporting
companies to correct information that's incorrect or
inaccurate. To correct inaccuracies, you must first contact the
reporting company, in writing, telling them which information is
incorrect or incomplete. In your correspondence, include copies
of documents that will verify your claim. (Don't send
originals!) Clearly detail why each piece of disputed
information is incorrect, and then ask that the inaccurate
information be either corrected or removed from your file
completely. It's generally worthwhile to include a copy of the
credit report itself, with each disputed item circled.

Once you've put your package together, send it to the company
in question by certified mail, indicating "return receipt
requested." That will allow you to be certain that the company
received your package. Also keep copies of everything for
yourself, of course!

The FCRA makes it mandatory that the reporting company
investigate each item you have disputed, often within thirty
days, unless they consider your dispute to be unworthy of
researching further. By law, they must also forward everything
you have provided them on to whatever company or organization
initially provided the disputed information in the first place.
That provider must then review and investigate the situation and
report back to the reporting company. If the provider has
mistakenly provided inaccurate information, they must correct
it with all three major reporting companies.

Once the investigation has been completed, the FCRA mandates
that the reporting company must provide you with the results,
in writing, and a free copy of the report if the investigation
resulted in a change in your credit report information. You may
also request that a copy of the amended credit report be sent to
anyone who may have received the disputed report during the
previous six months. If the report was given to potential
employers, you have a right to request that a corrected report
be sent to any employer who may have received the inaccurate
report during the past two years.

Copyright © Jeanette J. Fisher


About The Author: Jeanette Fisher teaches how to get out from
under credit card debt, how to use credit to make money, and
six ways to build strong credit to finance your first home and
multiple investment properties. For free credit advice and free
ebook "Credit Tips for Mortgage Financing," see
http://worryfreecredit.com
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