The Importance of Credit Reporting Laws
Credit reporting laws in the United States can be rather difficult to understand if you are not an attorney or don't happen to work in finance.
When it comes to your personal credit, understanding credit reporting laws is important.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is one law every consumer should know.
It was originally signed into law in 1970 and it guarantees the confidential, accurate, relevant and proper handling of all consumer information collected and recorded by the credit bureaus.
It also gives consumers the right to request a copy of their credit report and scores.
The only provider that is legally authorized to give you this report once a year is annualcreditreport.
com.
This law also requires that written disputes be investigated within 30 days by credit bureaus.
Here, any information deemed inaccurate or unverifiable shall be removed and kept from reappearing on your credit report.
Another important credit reporting law is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
This law was enacted in 1977 in an effort to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors and to ensure that those debt collectors who refrain from using them are not competitively disadvantaged.
It also promotes state action that is consistent in protecting consumers against such debt collection abuses.
It prohibits several activities considered to be deceptive or harmful to consumers such as: lying, misleading or harassing.
This law is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and annually reports to congress regarding any issues that involve it.
Here, a debt collector is defined as any person who uses any method of interstate commerce of the mail in any business for the purpose of collecting debts.
This means the rules of this law do not apply to the company who extended the original credit line, but instead are only relevant for collection companies who were hired or contracted by the initial creditor involved.
When it comes to how your credit is reported and what the scores mean, you need to have a rough idea of how it all works so you will be able to interpret any problems and come up with a solution for repairing them.
After all, your credit is a very important part of your life in general as it affects many different aspects all at once.
When it comes to your personal credit, understanding credit reporting laws is important.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is one law every consumer should know.
It was originally signed into law in 1970 and it guarantees the confidential, accurate, relevant and proper handling of all consumer information collected and recorded by the credit bureaus.
It also gives consumers the right to request a copy of their credit report and scores.
The only provider that is legally authorized to give you this report once a year is annualcreditreport.
com.
This law also requires that written disputes be investigated within 30 days by credit bureaus.
Here, any information deemed inaccurate or unverifiable shall be removed and kept from reappearing on your credit report.
Another important credit reporting law is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
This law was enacted in 1977 in an effort to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors and to ensure that those debt collectors who refrain from using them are not competitively disadvantaged.
It also promotes state action that is consistent in protecting consumers against such debt collection abuses.
It prohibits several activities considered to be deceptive or harmful to consumers such as: lying, misleading or harassing.
This law is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and annually reports to congress regarding any issues that involve it.
Here, a debt collector is defined as any person who uses any method of interstate commerce of the mail in any business for the purpose of collecting debts.
This means the rules of this law do not apply to the company who extended the original credit line, but instead are only relevant for collection companies who were hired or contracted by the initial creditor involved.
When it comes to how your credit is reported and what the scores mean, you need to have a rough idea of how it all works so you will be able to interpret any problems and come up with a solution for repairing them.
After all, your credit is a very important part of your life in general as it affects many different aspects all at once.
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