Credit Reporting

The Fair Credit Reporting Act

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, promotes accuracy in consumer reports and is meant to ensure the privacy of the information in them. The FCRA was recently amended by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) (PL 108-159, 12/04/03). The FACTA requires the Commission and other agencies to implement many of the new provisions of the FCRA by means of rules and regulations to be issued in 2004.

If you've ever applied for a charge account, personal loan, insurance, or job, there's a file about you. This file contains information on where you work and live, how you pay your bills and whether you’ve been sued, arrested, or have filed for bankruptcy. Companies that gather and sell this information are called Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs). The most common type of CRA is the credit bureau. The activities of other CRAs – such as tenant or employment screening services, or agencies whose data is limited to your checkwriting history – that offer reports on consumers in specific situations are also governed by the FCRA. CRAs may sell information about you to creditors, employers, insurers, and other businesses in the form of a consumer report.

In addition to credit reports on file with credit bureaus, the FCRA may govern other files of information collected and maintained on consumers, depending on their content and use. Medical information and information used to prevent and detect fraud are sometimes governed by the FCRA.

Learn more about consumer rights and business responsibilities under the FCRA by reviewing our Consumer Education and Business Guidance sections. To see the Commission’s recent FCRA enforcement activities, click here. You can also review our Commission Testimony, information about our FCRA related workshops, and our press releases and staff opinion letters.