Understanding Your Credit Rights
Posted by: Staff Writer | Jul 20,2007
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The U.S. Federal government has enacted four general rules or "acts" that give you as a consumer certain rights when it comes to standing up to the colossal credit and financial world.
Credit Consumer Rights Under the Equal Credit Opportunity ActWhen creditors are considering you for a loan, they can't discriminate against you by denying you the loan because of your gender, marital status, race, religion, national origin, and in some cases, age. This law does not require every creditor to use the same standards, nor does it mean that everyone is entitled to receive credit.
You cannot be asked about your personal information on a credit application, (unless they're only asking to enforce fair housing laws, and even then it's optional and not to be used to determine your credit score). You don't have to include alimony unless you need it to be seen as a financial resource in helping you repay the credit. You cannot be asked your marital status, unless your spouse will help secure, use, or be legally responsible for the loan. Creditors are also prohibited from asking about your plans to have children.
Age can only be considered on a credit application in terms of whether you are old enough to enter into a legal contract or to estimate how long you plan to work if you're near retirement.
What is the Fair Credit Reporting Act?This act was designed to make sure that credit bureaus (the consumer reporting agencies that collect credit information) keep accurate files.
You have the legal right to look at each of your three credit reports every 12 months. You can do this online at www.annualcreditreport.com. If your credit application is rejected because of a mistake on your credit report, the company that turned you down has to give you the name and address of the credit bureau they got the information from. You then can have this information corrected and have the report re-issued to the lender.
Also, this law gives you the ability to stop having your name sold to companies trying to sell you credit or insurance. Call toll-free at (888) 5 OPT OUT to be excluded from Experian, Equifax, and Transunion.
Using the Fair Credit Billing Act in Billing DisputesWhen you are having a dispute with a billing error or with item you purchased with your credit card, you have the right to notify your credit card issuer and have the matter investigated. In the meantime, creditors can't make you pay for the item nor can they penalize you in any way, including fees or reporting negatively about you to the credit bureaus.
Creditor Conduct Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices ActThis rule says that debt collectors can't harass you or be abusive in their attempt to collect the money you owe. This means they can't threaten you, use obscene language, publicize the debt or make annoying or anonymous telephone calls. Debt collectors cannot lie to you or stretch the truth to scare you by making the debt sound worse than it is or by exaggerating the consequences of not paying off the debt.
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