Your Credit Rights And Responsibilities

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Your Credit Rights

• Provide you with a complete credit report. Anyone may request a free credit report annually. You may request a free credit report anytime if you have been denied credit, are a victim of identity theft, receive welfare benefits or are unemployed but expect to apply for employment in the next 60 days.
  
  
• Investigate, at your request, erroneous or missing information in your report. The consumer reporting agency must provide you with a written report of the investigation, as well as a revised copy of your credit report if the investigation resulted in changes.
  
  
• Keep your credit report information from anyone other than legitimate users of the consumer reporting agency.
  
  
• Remove detrimental credit information from your file after 7 years. Bankruptcy information can be removed after 7 to 10 years.
  
  

Your Credit Responsibilities

• Understand the entries on the credit report. Each consumer reporting agency's credit report contains information such as how long an account has been tracked, the highest amount charged, the account balance at the time of the report and the type of account. Other entries identify creditors that have viewed your credit history. Codes indicate debtors’ arrangements, repossessions and bad debts, if applicable.
  
  
• Ensure the credit report is accurate. Common errors include incorrect personal information, missing information and failing to correct damaging information after problems are resolved.
  
  
• Take action to correct errors. Document your actions and follow up until the problem is resolved.
  
  
• Inform creditors of errors. The consumer reporting agency must investigate the items in question — usually within 30 days — unless they determine that the dispute clearly lacks merit.
  
  
• Retain your written account of errors or discrepancies in your file. If an investigation does not resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you have a right to add a statement to your credit report file contesting the accuracy or completeness of the disputed information.