|
|
Employment Information
A Summary Of Your Rights
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
The federal Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA) is designed to promote accuracy, fairness and
privacy of information in the files of every "consumer reporting
agency" (CRA). Most CRAs are credit bureaus that gather and
sell information about you - such as if you pay your bills on time
or have filed for bankruptcy - to creditors, employers, landlords,
and other businesses.
You can find the complete text of the FCRA, 15 USC §§1681-1681u,
at the Federal Trade Commission’s Web site (http://www.ftc.gov).
The FCRA gives you specific rights as outlined below. You may have
additional rights under state law.
You may contact a state
or local consumer protection agency or a state attorney general
to learn those rights.
You must be told if information in your file has been used
against you. Anyone who uses information from a CRA to take
action against you - such as denying an application for credit,
insurance, or employment - must tell you, and give you the name,
address and phone number of that CRA that provided the consumer
report.
You can find out what is in your file. At your request,
a CRA must give you the information in your file, and a list of
everyone who has requested it recently. There is no charge for
the report if a person has taken action against you because of
information supplied by the CRA, if you request the report within
60 days of receiving notice of the action. You also are entitled
to one free report every twelve months upon request if you certify
that (1) you are unemployed and plan to seek employment within
60 days, (2) you are on welfare, or (3) your report is inaccurate
due to fraud. Otherwise, a CRA may charge you up to eight dollars.
You can dispute inaccurate information with the CRA.
If you tell a CRA that your file contains inaccurate information,
the CRA must investigate the items (usually within 30 days) by
presenting to its information source all relevant evidence you
submit, unless your dispute is frivolous. The source must review
your evidence and report its findings to the CRA. (The source
also must advise national CRAs - to which it has provided the
data - of any error.) The CRA must give you a written report of
the investigation, and a copy of your report if the investigation
results in any change. If the CRA’s investigation does not resolve
the dispute, you may add a brief statement to your file. The CRA
must normally include a summary of your statement in future reports.
If an item is deleted or a dispute statement is filed, you may
ask that anyone who has recently received your report be notified
or the change.
Inaccurate information must be corrected or deleted.
A CRA must remove or correct inaccurate or unverified information
from its files, usually within 30 days after you dispute it. However,
the CRA is not required to remove accurate data from your file
unless it is outdated (as described below) or cannot be verified.
If you dispute results in any change to your report, the
CRA cannot reinsert into your file a disputed item unless the
information source verifies its accuracy and completeness. In
addition, the CRA must give you a written notice telling you it
has reinserted the item. The notice must include the name, address,
and phone number of the information source.
You can dispute inaccurate items with the source of the
information. If you tell anyone - such as a creditor who reports
to a CRA - that you dispute an item, they may not then report
the information to a CRA without including a notice of your dispute.
In addition, once you have notified the source of the error in
writing, it may not continue to report the information if it is,
in fact, an error.
Outdated information may not be reported. In most cases,
a CRA may not report negative information that is more than seven
years old, ten years for bankruptcies.
Access to your file is limited. A CRA may provide information
about you only to people with a need recognized by the FCRA -
usually, to consider an application with a creditor, insurer,
employer, landlord, or other business.
Your consent is required for reports that are provided to
employers, or reports that contain medical information. A
CRA may not give out information about you to your employer, or
prospective employer, without your written consent. A CRA may
not report medical information about you to creditors, insurers,
or employers without your permission.
You may choose to exclude your name from CRA lists for unsolicited
credit and insurance offers. Credit and insurers may use file
information as the basis for sending you unsolicited offers of
credit or insurance. Such offers must include a toll-free phone
number for you to call if you want your name and address removed
from future lists. If you call, you must be kept off the lists
for two years. If you request, complete, and return the CRA form
provided for this purpose, you must be taken off the lists indefinitely.
You may seek damages from violators. If a CRA, a user,
or (in some cases) a provider of CRA data violates the FCRA, you
may sue them in state or federal court.
The FCRA
gives several different agencies authority to enforce the FCRA:
|
|
For
Questions Regarding:
|
Please
Contact:
|
|
CRAs, creditors
and others not listed below
|
Federal Trade Commission
Consumer Response
Center - FCRA
Washington, DC
20580
202-326-3761
|
|
National banks,
federal branches/agencies of foreign banks (word "National"
or initials "N.A." appear in or after bank’s name)
|
Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency
Compliance Management
Mail Stop 6-6
Washington, DC
20219
800-613-6743
|
|
Federal Reserve
System member banks (except national banks, and federal branches/agencies
of foreign banks)
|
Federal Reserve
Board
Division of Consumer
& Community Affairs
Washington, DC
20551
202-452-3693
|
|
Savings associations
and federally chartered savings banks (word "Federal)
or initials "F.S.B." appear in federal institution’s
name)
|
Office of Thrift
Supervision
Consumer Programs
Washington, DC
20552
800-842-6929
|
|
Federal credit
unions (words "Federal Credit Union" appear in institution’s
name)
|
National Credit
Union Administration
1775 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA
22314
703-518-6360
|
|
State-chartered
banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System
|
Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation
Division of Compliance
& Consumer Affairs
Washington, DC
20429
800-934-FDIC
|
|
Air, surface, or
rail common carriers regulated by former Civil Aeronautics
Board or Interstate Commerce Commission
|
Department of Transportation
Office of Financial
Management
Washington, DC
20590
202-366-1306
|
|
Activities subject
to the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921
|
Department of Agriculture
Office of Deputy
Administrator
GIPSA
Washington, DC
20250
202-720-7051
|
|
|
|
