The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003
Jan 19th, 2009 | By Rob | Category: Law
I figured it was about time that I profile a few laws about credit card debt. I’ve decided to start with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). FACTA is perhaps best known for allowing you annual access to a free copy of your credit report from the three major credit bureaus at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. But there is much more to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act:
- It entitles consumers access to their credit score for a reasonable fee and an explanation of how the score was calculated.
- It requires financial institutions to notify you of negative information they disclose to a credit bureau.
- It allows you to place a fraud alert on your credit and to block some items on your credit report caused by identity theft.
- It requires businesses using consumer reports to take steps to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft.
- It prohibits credit card receipts from displaying full account numbers.
- It protects against the disclosure of medical conditions on credit reports.
- It allows you to stop information sharing about you among a corporation’s affiliates for marketing.
- It requires you to be notified if you are offered credit on terms that are materially less favorable than others receive because of your credit history.
Of course, the terms, conditions, changes and exclusions behind the implementation and enforcement of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act would probably take a book to explain, so consult a lawyer or other informational resource with specific questions or for more information. As time goes on, I’m sure that I will discuss in more detail many of the provisions of the law - so stick around!
