Laws and Your Rights

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA)

This law provides consumers with the legal right to receive an annual free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus.

This is done through annualcreditreport.com, a site that's operated jointly by the three main credit bureaus. Consumers may also telephone the bureaus to receive their reports.

Note: Consumers frequently confuse their credit reports with their Fair Isaac Company Score score, commonly referred to as your "FICO score".

While getting your credit reports once a year is free, getting your FICO score is not.

If you discover info on your credit files that is inaccurate, there's a section on the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C Section 168 li) that lets you dispute the information.

A Summary of Your Credit Rights

In brief, here are your credit rights under the law:

You have the right to annually check your own credit reports free of charge

You have the right to dispute any negative or incorrect item you discover

You may notify credit bureaus of mistakes, and they must investigate all items that you've notified them are inaccurate.

The credit bureaus, upon receiving your item dispute, are required under law to investigate the item in question and within 30 days the item must be validated or removed from your credit files.

Negative info on your credit report will normally remain for seven years. In the case of bankruptcy, the time is extended to ten years. (This is one of the main reasons why we urge consumers to consider their options before declaring bankruptcy.)

For complete information here's one place to get a free credit report online.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)

This is the law that governs how collection agencies may operate their business.

Under the FDCPA, within five days of contacting you about a debt, a debt collector is legally required to send you a written notice:

detailing how much you owe

including the original name of the creditor

notifying you of your rights if you believe you do not owe the money.

If you don't receive this proper notification, we often recommend that consumers do not speak or deal with a collection agency except to contact the agency and demand that they provide this to you under the terms of the FDCPA.

The debt collector is required to send you documented proof of the debt you owe, or by law, they must stop contacting you.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act includes other protections for consumers including prohibiting collectors from:

calling you at work

threatening to take action against you

issuing a warrant for your arrest

using obscene language

talking to your friends or family members about a debt

Let's face it, most debt collection agencies play rough.

They're often representing companies who've "purchased" your debt from your original lender for pennies on the dollar, and they may be working for commission based upon how much money they can extract from you!

It is up to you to know your rights under the law and hold their feet to the fire!

If collectors are calling you and debts have become a problem, this is a sign that you have unsecured debt. The good news is that unsecured debt can often be eliminated rather quickly through debt relief.

Debt Relief Options

If you have problem debts such as credit card debts, medical bills, tax debt, student loans, or other unsecured debts, The Debt Relief Center can help you.

Just take a moment to list your type of debt and the amount you owe, and we'll connect you to a company that can help provide you with the debt relief you need!