Your rights under the FCRA

You don't need permission from anyone to question your credit report. A federal law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), gives you specific rights, and they're free to use.

Here are the main rights the FCRA gives you:

• To see what's in your file. You can get your reports, and free ones are available weekly at AnnualCreditReport.com.
• To be told when your report is used against you. If you're denied credit, insurance or a job because of your report, you must be told, and you can get a free copy of the report that was used.
• To dispute information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. The credit bureau generally must investigate, usually within 30 days (45 in some cases), unless it reasonably decides your dispute is frivolous.
• To have inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information corrected or deleted, usually within that same time frame.
• To have outdated negative information left off. Most negative items can't be reported after seven years. Bankruptcies can stay up to ten.
• To limit who sees your report. Generally, only people with a valid reason can see it, and an employer needs your written permission.
• To place fraud alerts and security freezes for free at the three nationwide bureaus.
• To seek damages if a bureau or furnisher violates the law.

One important limit: the law protects your right to accurate reporting. Accurate negative information can stay for its full reporting period.

• FCRA: the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the federal law that governs credit reporting.
• Consumer reporting agency: the legal term for a credit bureau.
• Furnisher: the company that reports information about you, like a lender or collector.
• Adverse action notice: the notice you get when you're turned down based on your report.
• Unverifiable: information the furnisher can't confirm when the bureau checks.

Diane is denied an apartment. The landlord's letter names the screening company that supplied her report. She requests her free copy and finds a collection that belongs to her sister-in-law, who has a similar name. Because that information is inaccurate, the FCRA gives Diane the right to dispute it and have it investigated. (Made-up example.)

• Read every denial letter. It tells you which company's report was used.
• Keep copies of everything you send and receive.
• You can dispute with the credit bureau, and in many cases directly with the company that reported the information.
• The CFPB publishes an official "Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act." It's worth reading once.

Look up the CFPB's "Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act" on consumerfinance.gov and read it once, start to finish. Then go back to your highlighted report items and note which right applies to each one.

Educational information only. Not legal, financial, investment or tax advice. Results vary, and no one can guarantee credit outcomes.