Five Laws of Credit Report Repair

 

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is where credit restoration begins. However, some credit repair organizations believe this is where it all ends as well. Attractive Credit uses five laws to credit restoration and have been established to protect consumers' credit reports. Creditors and credit bureaus are legally obligated to produce documented evidence within reasonable amount of time, generally 30 days, to back the claims they make. If they cannot validate their claims, they must promptly remove any undocumented information from the consumers' credit report. Let the professionals take care of your credit profile.

THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT (FCRA), enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, is designed to promote accuracy and ensure the privacy of the information used in consumer reports. Recent amendments to the Act expand your rights and place additional requirements on CRAs. Businesses that supply information about you to CRAs and those that use consumer reports also have new responsibilities under the law. THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT (FDCPA), (15 USC §1692, et. seq.) which became law in 1977, protects consumers from the unfair collection practices of third-party bill collectors. The FDCPA applies only to debt collectors attempting to collect consumer debts -- debts which were incurred for personal, family or household purposes. Business or agricultural debts are not covered by the FDCPA and, even if the debt is a consumer debt, the entity which actually extended the credit is not covered by the FDCPA.

THE FAIR CREDIT BILLING ACT (FCBA), is a United States federal law enacted as an amendment to the Truth in Lending Act (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.). Its purpose is to protect consumers from unfair billing practices and to provide a mechanism for addressing billing errors in "open end" credit accounts, such as credit card or charge card accounts.

THE FAIR AND ACCURATE CREDIT TRANSACTIONS ACT (FACTA), is a United States federal law, passed by the United States Congress on December 4, 2003, as an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The act allows consumers to request and obtain a free credit report once every twelve months from each of bureau (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). In cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission, the three major credit reporting agencies set up the website, annualcreditreport.com, to provide free access to annual credit reports. The act also contains provisions to help reduce identity theft, such as the ability for individuals to place alerts on their credit histories if identity theft is suspected, or if deploying overseas in the military, thereby making fraudulent applications for credit more difficult. Further, it requires secure disposal of consumer information.

Another key item was the requirement that mortgage lenders provide consumers with a Credit Disclosure Notice that included their credit scores,range of scores, credit bureaus, scoring models, and factors affecting their scores. This form is typically available from credit reporting agencies, and many will send this directly to the consumer on the lenders' behalf.

HEALTH INSURANCE PORTABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT (HIPPA), To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes.

DISCLAIMER [Legal Stuff]: This information is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to be a legal opinion nor legal advice nor is it intended to be a complete discussion of all the issues related to the area of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or consumer bankruptcy. Every individual's factual situation is different and you should seek specific legal advice regarding your rights.