Consumer Benefits

How your credit works: If you've ever applied for a charge account, personal loan, insurance, or job, there's a file about you. This file contains information on where you work and live, how you pay your bills and whether you’ve been sued, arrested, or have filed for bankruptcy. Companies that gather and sell this information are called Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs). The most common type of CRA is the credit bureau. The activities of other CRAs – such as tenant or employment screening services, or agencies whose data is limited to your check writing history – that offer reports on consumers in specific situations are also governed by the FCRA. CRAs may sell information about you to creditors, employers, insurers, and other businesses in the form of a consumer report.

In addition to credit reports on file with credit bureaus, the FCRA may govern other files of information collected and maintained on consumers, depending on their content and use. Medical information and information used to prevent and detect fraud are sometimes governed by the FCRA.

The FACTA amended the FCRA in 2003 and consumers will benefit from this in a variety of ways:

• Importance of Permanent National Standards
• Enhanced Consumer Protections
  • identity theft - prevention and remediation
  • accuracy - improving consumers' self-help mechanisms
  • privacy
• Studies and Research in the areas of credit reporting