Getting familiar with your legal rights is the third phase of our program. This is information that everyone should know. Make sure you share this with your friends and family!
Summary of Your Rights
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 USC sections 1681a through 1681t, protects you against credit abuse that might result in an unfair description of your creditworthiness. Knowing the following six basic rights is essential if you are to successfully erase the negative marks in your credit report.
Right #1. You are allowed to challenge the accuracy of your credit report at any time.
Right #2. The credit bureau must reinvestigate anything you challenge.
Right #3. The credit bureau must reinvestigate the disputed information within 30 days. The time period begins when the bureau receives notice of the dispute from the consumer. The only exception to the 30-day rule: when the consumer sends the bureau additional material within the 30-day period. The bureau may extend the deadline a maximum of 15 days.
Right #4. If the credit bureau finds any error, it must promptly delete that erroneous information from its files.
Right #5. If the bureau cannot or does not confirm the information you have challenged within a reasonable time period, it also must delete that information from your files.
Right #6. If a creditor verifies the information and the bureau responds in a timely manner, the negative marks must remain on your record. But if you maintain that the information reported is in dispute, you have the right to submit a Consumer Statement of your view of the problem.
In other words, if you as a credit consumer dispute the accuracy of certain information in your report and receive no satisfaction from the bureau or the creditor, then the credit bureau is required by law to attach your explanation to every copy of the report it sends out. You may ask the credit bureau for assistance, but in that case the bureau can limit the statement to 100 words.