Common FCRA Violations to Watch Out For

It’s no secret that your credit score has a large impact on many areas of your life. This is particularly true if your score is below average.

However, FCRA violations can cause a significant number of issues if they occur. Let’s take a look at some of the most common so that you know what to keep an eye out for.

File Mixups

One of the most frequent issues that people face comes in the form of file mixups. More often than not, this scenario involves a credit bureau misplacing your file and using information that belongs to somebody else.

To elaborate, let’s assume that’s you and your father have the same name. However, your name also has the suffix “Jr.”

It’s not impossible for a credit bureau to inaccurately report your credit information as your father’s. As you can tell, things can quickly go awry if your father has notoriously bad credit.

Unfortunately, you often won’t be able to tell that this has occurred until it has already impacted your life. For example, you may be denied a mortgage loan due to your credit history, even if the issues on your credit report are inaccurate.

A similar situation can occur if two people have the same name and live within the same ZIP Code or city.

Privacy Infringement

As required by law, a credit reporting agency is only allowed to disclose your credit information to certain individuals. This ensures that only relevant parties are able to access this data.

So, it should come as no surprise that insurance providers, creditors, landlords, and representatives of utility companies are able to access your credit history. They then use this information to help determine how financially reliable you are.

After all, it isn’t in a lender’s best interest to allocate money to somebody who has a notably low credit score.

However, providing your credit information to individuals outside of these categories is a major violation of the fair credit reporting act. An ex-spouse or parent, for instance, should never be able to access this type of information unless they also fill a relevant role (such as a landlord).

Employers are only able to gain access to this information legally if you have previously consented to them doing so.

Reporting Old Information

Any agency that reports credit information must always report the most current data. Although this situation doesn’t always come into play, it can serve as a significant obstacle when it does.

This is particularly true if your credit report declares that you are still responsible for a debt that was previously discharged after filing for bankruptcy.

Similarly, some agencies report that a consumer has more active credit accounts than they actually do. This occurs when the report does not reflect the closings that the individual made on their own.

Of course, there is certain information that cannot be reported if it is more than 7-10 years old. In this context, bankruptcy history can only be reported within seven years from the filing date, and civil judgments that are over 10 years old should not show up on a credit report.

If any of these situations occur, there is likely a violation of the FCRA you need to handle.

In this scenario, it’s best to get in touch with a litigation lawyer who can help you take the appropriate steps. You can visit this resource to learn more about litigation definition and how this type of professional can help.

Improper Debt Dispute

If you find that your credit report displays inaccurate information, the first step is submitting a written dispute to the credit bureau. They are legally obligated to respond in a certain manner.

This means that they are required to reasonably investigate your dispute, immediately correct inaccurate information, and then take the steps necessary to remove debt that does not belong to you.

They also have between 30 and 45 days in order to complete this process.

If you find that the other party is not adhering to the legal standards that have been set, however, they are likely in violation of the FCRA. The longer they take to correctly handle this obligation, the greater impact an inaccurate credit report will have on your life.

Withholding Notice Violations

When certain situations occur, you are entitled to receive a notice. This could involve a creditor providing you with your current credit score if it was used during the deliberation of a credit decision.

Similarly, a creditor is also obligated to inform you that you have a legal right to dispute inaccurate information on your credit report.

Withholding notice violations that occur can cause just as many issues as improper debt disputes.

This is simply due to the fact that people may not take the required action if they aren’t aware that it is a viable option for them to do so. So, keep this in mind when moving forward.

Otherwise, you may find yourself having to deal with issues that were entirely preventable.

Dealing With Fcra Violations Can Seem Difficult

Fortunately, the above information will help you recognize them as soon as possible. From here, you can take the appropriate course of action if you encounter FCRA violations and get your life back on track.

Want to learn more info you should keep in mind? Be sure to explore what the rest of our blog has to offer.