Category Archives: FCRA

FCRA, News

Understanding the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group
FCRA

Your credit report is a critical part of your identity in terms of your finances. This will essentially affect everything from getting approved for a loan to even potential job opportunities. However, errors in credit reporting are more common than you might think, and they can have serious consequences. Fortunately, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law designed to protect all consumers from inaccurate or unfair credit reporting.

What Does the FCRA Do?

The purpose of the FCRA is to properly regulate how credit bureaus (such as Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) handle your credit information. Under the FCRA, you have several important rights:

  • The right to access your credit report for free once a year at AnnualCreditReport.com.
  • The right to dispute errors and have credit bureaus investigate within 30 days.
  • The right to accurate and verifiable reporting—creditors cannot report false or outdated information.

Common FCRA Violations

Despite these protections, credit report errors still happen. Some of the most common FCRA violations include:

  • Mixed credit files: Someone else’s accounts could potentially appear on your report.
  • Incorrect account statuses: A loan marked as unpaid even after it’s settled.
  • Failure to investigate disputes: A credit bureau ignores or delays your dispute request.

These mistakes can potentially lower your credit score and impact your ability to obtain loans, housing, or even employment.

How to Fix Credit Report Errors

If you find an inaccuracy on your credit report, follow these steps:

  1. Request your free credit report from the three major bureaus.
  2. Gather evidence—any bank statements, emails, or letters proving the error.
  3. File a dispute with the credit bureau reporting the inaccurate information.
  4. Monitor your credit report to ensure the error is corrected.

If the credit bureau fails to correct the mistake, you have the right to take legal action under the FCRA.

Need Legal Help? We’re Here for You!

If you have tried disputing a credit report error and the credit bureaus haven’t resolved it, you may have a legal case. At Credit Report Law Group we focus on FCRA violations and can help you restore your financial reputation. Schedule a free credit report case review today.

FCRA

Equifax exposed 150 million Americans’ personal data. Now it will pay up to $700 million

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group
Equifax Data Breach

Data breaches place almost everyone at risk for credit report mistakes.  That Equifax — a company charged by law with protecting victims of identity theft and ensuring data integrity — failed to prevent this breach is a bitter irony.  
Consumers should regularly check their credit reports for inaccurate information.  The Fair Credit Reporting Act enshrines consumers’ rights to accurate credit reports.  For more information, visit https://nyconsumerlaw.com/lawyer/Credit-Report-Errors_cp16177.htm
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/22/tech/equifax-hack-ftc/index.html 

Credit reporting agency Equifax has reached a deal to pay up to $700 million to state and federal regulators to settle probes stemming from a data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 150 million people. It will be the largest settlement ever paid for a data breach.

The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that Equifax will pay at least $300 million and as much as $425 million to compensate affected people with credit monitoring services. That money will go into a fund that will also reimburse people who purchased credit- or identity-monitoring services because of the 2017 data breach. The amount of the settlement could change depending on the number of claims still to be filed by consumers.
Equifax will also pay $275 million in civil penalties and other compensation to 48 states, Washington, Puerto Rico and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The deal also requires more changes to how Equifax handles private user data. For example, the company will have to adjust its information security protocols, including annual assessments of security risks and receiving the board’s certification attesting that the company has complied with the FTC’s order.

 

 

FCRA

New Bill Would Amend FCRA by Delaying Reporting of Medical Debt

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group
Medical Debt

Senate Bill 1581, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley [D-Ore.] and co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal [D-Conn.], Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.], Sen. Bob Menendez [D-N.J.], and Sen. Dick Durbin [D-Ill.], would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act by delaying reporting of an individual’s medical debt to credit reporting agencies for one year.  It would also require the removal of medical debt that has been paid off or settled from an individual’s credit report.

The bill would also amend the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act to require debt collectors to send consumers a statement informing them that medical debt will not be reported to a credit bureau for one year from when the statement was sent.  The statement would also inform consumers that if the debt is paid off or settled prior to the end of the one-year period, that it will not be reported to a credit bureau.

Sen. Blumenthal said in a statement: “Medical challenges should not fatally infect financial health. Americans suffering from injury or illness should be free to focus on their recovery, without financial distraction. Medical debt is not the same as credit card debt—getting injured or sick shouldn’t permanently prevent an American from buying a home or a car.”

The bill is supported by the National Consumer Law Center.

 

https://fcraland.com/2019/05/27/new-bill-would-amend-fcra-by-delaying-reporting-of-medical-debt/

FCRA

Rubio, Kennedy Introduce Bill To Protect Small Businesses From Security Breaches

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

Today, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the Small Business Credit Protection Act, legislation that would require credit bureaus to inform small businesses, within 30 days, of a nonpublic personal data breach. The bill would also prohibit credit bureaus from charging small businesses for a credit report within 180 days following a breach. In response to the Equifax data breach, Congress amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act to enhance some federal credit protections for “consumers.” However, business credit is excluded from the statutory definition of “consumers” and thus, while small business’ nonpublic information was subject to the breach, the changes did not apply to those using business credit.  
 

https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=312175C3-C942-456E-AF62-CD904812BC39

FCRA

Stanford Facing FCRA Class Action (Again)

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

Stanford University is facing a new Fair Credit Reporting Act class action with, potentially, over a thousand class members. And it’s not the first time Stanford has faced these claims.  Notably, this isn’t the first time that Stanford has faced FCRA claims for the disclosures in their application forms. In 2015, Stanford faced precisely the same claims from another employee. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/stanford-facing-fcra-class-action-again

Consumers have important federal rights when submitting to an employment background screening.  More information is available here: https://creditreportlawgroup.com/lawyer/Background-Check-Errors_cp16178.htm

FCRA

FCRA Developments: Updated Summary of Rights & “Stand-Alone” Disclosure Need Not Be Separate In Time

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

Job applicants have important federal rights regarding their background checks.  That includes being provided with a copy of a summary of those rights.  It also includes important rights concerning inaccurate information on a background check report.  

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/fcra-developments-updated-summary-of-77049/

 

More information can be found here

FCRA

FTC Testifies Before Senate Banking Committee on Fair Credit Reporting Act

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group

Testifying on behalf of the Commission at a hearing on credit bureaus and the FCRA, Maneesha Mithal, Associate Director of the FTC’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, noted that the Commission has played a key role in the implementation, enforcement, and interpretation of the FCRA since its enactment in 1970. The FCRA requires consumer reporting agencies to follow reasonable procedures to ensure they only provide consumer report information to those with a “permissible purpose” for receiving it; to maintain reasonable procedures to ensure the maximum possible accuracy of the information; and to allow consumers to dispute and correct information in their consumer reports. In the last decade, the FTC has brought more than 30 actions to enforce the FCRA against consumer reporting agencies, users of consumer reports, and furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies. 

 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/07/ftc-testifies-senate-banking-committee-fair-credit-reporting-act

FCRA

Consumers Should Have More Control Over Credit Reports. We Agree.

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group
Senator Jack Reed

Last month, Senator Jack Reed (D) of Rhode Island proposed legislation which would give consumers discretion over who sees their all-important credit information. The Control Your Personal Credit Information Act would require credit bureaus to request permission from consumers in order to share their highly personal credit-information with third-parties. Senator Reed states: “under existing law, the current consumer reporting system is backwards.  Consumer reporting agencies collect so much information on us, often without our consent, so at the very least, they should ask us for our permission before they share or sell our information.”

 Click here to read full article.

FCRA

Equifax interim CEO pens apology after data breach

Posted on by Credit Report Law Group
Equifax and Stock Prices

Dominick Tavella, of Diversified Financial Consultants, suggests that consumers sign up for credit alerts in order to protect against unwarranted issuances of credit, resulting from the Equifax breach. Tavella cautions consumers about Equifax’s offer to provide credit monitoring free for a year, as the information gained through the data breach may not be used (or if it is used, discovered) within the next year.

See video clip here