Know Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that governs the collection and use of information about consumers, including consumer credit reports. The FCRA provides a method for victims of identity theft and/or illegal credit reporting to fix the errors and hire an attorney at no charge if the errors are not corrected within 30 days of a written dispute. Below is a list of some of the most important rights you have under the FCRA:
 

1. Free credit report from Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union every 12 months through annualcreditreport.com;
2. Free fraud alert for 90 days and the right to extend this alert up to 7 years with an identity theft report;
3. You have the right to have the tradelines (accounts) and other fraudulent information blocked from your credit profiles by providing an identity theft report to the credit bureaus;
4. You have the right to a lawyer at no cost to you if the bureaus and creditors fail to update the fraudulent credit reporting; and
5. Return of all damages suffered by you as a result of the illegal reporting or identity theft if the credit errors are not fixed after thirty days from your written dispute, including your attorney's fees and costs.