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Consumer
Credit File Rights under Federal and State
Laws
You have the right to
dispute inaccurate information in your credit reports by contacting the
credit bureau directly. However, neither you nor any one else has the
right to have accurate, current, and verifiable information removed from your
credit report. The credit bureau must remove accurate, negative information
from your report only if it is over 7 years old. Bankruptcy information can be
reported for 10 years. You have a right to obtain a copy of your credit report
from a credit bureau. You may be charged a reasonable fee. There is no fee, however,
if you have been turned down for credit, employment, insurance, or a rental
dwelling because of information in your credit report within the preceding 60
days. The bureau must provide someone to help you interpret the information in
your credit file. You are entitled to receive a free copy of your credit report
if you are unemployed and intend to apply for employment in the next 60 days,
if you are a recipient of public welfare assistance, or if you have reason to
believe that there is inaccurate information in your credit report due to
fraud.
You have the right to sue
a credit repair organization that violates the Credit Repair
Organizations Act. This law prohibits any deceptive practices by credit repair
organizations. You have the right to cancel your contract with any credit
repair organization for any reason within 3 business days from the date you signed
it.
Credit bureaus are
required to follow reasonable procedures to ensure that the information they
report is accurate. However, mistakes may occur. You may, on your own, notify a
credit bureau in writing that you dispute the accuracy of the information on
you credit file. The credit bureau must then reinvestigate, modify, or remove
inaccurate or incomplete information. The credit bureau may not charge a fee
for this service. Any information and copies of all documents you have
concerning an error should be given to the credit bureaus. If the credit
bureau’s investigation does not resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you
may send a brief statement to the credit bureau, to be kept in your file,
explaining why you think the record is inaccurate. The credit bureau must
include a summary of your statement about disputed information with any report
it issues about you.
The Federal Trade
Commission regulates credit bureaus and credit repair organizations. For
more information contact:
The Public Reference
Branch
Federal Trade Commission
Washington, D.C. 20580
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