Your Rights Under the FACT Act
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act was signed into law December 2003. It amends the Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA), a federal law that regulates in part who is permitted to access your consumer report information, and how it can be used. The FACT Act gives consumers the right to request one free copy of their credit report annually.
The FACT Act is also meant to help consumers understand their credit rights, and to help fight identity theft. For example, under this Act, credit unions will have new responsibilities, including ensuring the accruacy and integrity of information provided to credit bureaus and notifying members before or within 30 days of reporting negative information about them to credit bureaus. In addition, mortgage lenders that use credit scores will be required to provide applicants with credit score information.
A key component of the new law is fraud prevention. If a credit union receives notification of a change of address, and then a request for an additional credit card, the law requires them to contact the member at the former address to make sure the request is not fraudulent.
If you would like to learn more about the FACT Act, visit the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse at http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs6a-facta.htm.
