SIX LAWS EVERY CREDIT CONSUMER SHOULD KNOW
Understanding the law surrounding credit is important. Whether it be because you are looking to buy a house or car, receive a loan, or start a business, good credit is essential - but let’s face it, reading laws and legislation can be tedious and often hard to understand. So, we decided to break it down for you.
The law requires that all information on your credit report is 100% accurate and verifiable. The fact is, the majority of reports have mistakes which can be removed to boost your scores.
According to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), you have the legal right to know why you were denied credit (if you were denied credit).
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to receive a free copy of your credit report annually from each of the three bureaus. However, you must be the one to request it!
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibits debt collectors from harassing you, falsely accusing you of committing a crime, contacting you if you write them to stop, and contacting you outside the hours of 8am-9pm.
Remember how we said your credit report must have 100% accurate and verifiable information on it? Yeah - well the FCRA also requires that any negative information of your report must be reported to you.
Credit information can become outdated and removed from your report between seven-ten years.
The above laws are just the peak of the many rules and regulations policing the credit industry. We felt like these were the most important for consumers to know. The moral of the story is if you check your report annually and notice anything is missing or legitimately wrong - dispute it! You can dispute your own credit mistakes for F R E E.
If you ever have questions, contact us - your expert consultants.
—
Solutions Team
