A credit report is a collection of information about a person. For instance your credit report will contain information about who you are, where you live, what bill you have and if you pay them on time. This report can even contain information like your criminal records. Credit report companies not only collect information about a given person but they also sell it to others.
The others can include lenders, employers among others. They use this information to evaluate you if you are fit for things like credit, employment among others. For this reason the fair credit report act has been put in place to ensure that the information kept here is accurate and at the same time private. Some of the protections in this act include:
You have the right to be told if the information in your credit report has been used in any negative manner by any one. If anyone chooses to use the information in this report to turn down your credit application, deny you employment or even deny you an apartment for rent should tell you and go ahead to inform you of the company that gave the information. You also have the right to receive a free copy of your report if it has been used negatively against you.
Every individual has a right to receive an annual credit report about them free of charge. You can choose to request to get it free online or you can call tee credit report companies to get instructions on how you can receive your report by mail. These reports should be from all the major credit report companies.
You also have the right to challenge any inaccurate or incorrect information on your report. If you feel that there is some inaccurate information you will have to report it to the credit reporting argency.They will then carry out some investigation and come up with the right information.
Credit reporting agencies have the right to remove information if they find it inaccurate. They are also not allowed to report negative information about your credit history if it is outdated. This information should be able to assist you know your rights to avoid future problems.
