The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is an American federal law that protects information collected by consumer reporting agencies such as credit bureaus, medical information companies and tenant screening services. Information in a consumer report cannot be provided to anyone who does not have a purpose specified in the Act. Companies that provide information to consumer reporting agencies also have specific legal obligations, including the duty to investigate disputed information. Also, users of the information for credit, insurance, or employment purposes must notify the consumer when an adverse action is taken on the basis of such reports. Further, users must identify the company that provided the report, so that the accuracy and completeness of the report may be verified or contested by the consumer.

See also

Identity theft

Credit score

External links

• Text of the law from the Federal Trade Commission
• Request a free credit report ~ Run by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion (may need to type the URL into browser directly).