Learn About the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act)

The “FCRA” or the “Fair Credit Reporting Act” is an act which has been created by the Federal Trade Commission and this can be found in the sections starting from 601 to 625 in the United States Code.

FCRA Requirement

From the term FCRA or the Fair Credit Reporting Act it can be derived that the act came into existence to make the trade system free from vulnerability by means of fairness and accuracy in the credit reporting system. The Congress have found out that the banking system is prone to unfair credit reporting because banking is heavily dependent on public confidence and fair reporting and economic transaction thus any flaw in the credit reports of the bank can disable the efficiency of the banking system causing damage to the economic system.

The system has given birth to a mechanism for the sole purpose of evaluating and investigating the credit capacity, credit worthiness, character, credit standing and general repute of the customers. The agencies which deal with consumer reporting came to the conclusion that amalgamating and evaluating the credit of the consumers and other related information plays an important role for the smooth running of the banking system.

Congress has made it clear that it is important to find out that the agencies which deal with consumer reporting do their job with immense responsibility along with impartiality and fair-mindedness.  The privacy of the customer is of prime importance too. 

Congress, by passing this act, has made it clear that the procedures adopted by the reporting agencies should be reasonable in meeting the requirements of the commerce for insurance, consumer credit and other details in an equitable and fair manner. The process should adhere to the principles like relevancy, confidentiality, accuracy and proper use of the information as stated in the Act as well.

Prohibitions

A consumer reporting agency is not eligible to construct an investigative report of a consumer unless and until it receives a certificate from the person who has requested for the report as mentioned in subsection (a) (2).

The consumer reporting agencies are not allowed to do investigation on a consumer if the same is required by an employer in the process of hiring if the procedure violates any Federal or “equal employment opportunity law”.

The consumer reporting agencies are prohibited from framing any information which includes any public record, for instance conviction, arrest, tax lien, indictment, outstanding judgments, tax lien etc. The matter needs to be checked for its accuracy during the period of 30 days which ends on the date when the report is framed.

The consumer reporting agencies are not allowed to furnish a report on a customer that consists of details that can dent the consumer’s interest on the basis of the information that are available from interviews from friends, associates and neighbors or from someone who is acquainted with the person concerned.

For further information you can visit http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/ or you can visit The Federal Trade Commission located at 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580 or call 202 326 2222.