The Importance of Credit and the Role it Plays in Mortgage Qualifying- Part V: The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

Written By: Stacey Sprain,
Certified Ambassador Loan Processor (CALP)

Many consumers, who also become potential homebuyers and homebuyers, are not aware of their federal rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. I feel it’s important to pass along this information to our borrowers because these rights are very important when it comes to maintaining acceptable credit histories, warning off unnecessary telemarketing phone calls and staying aware of who is inquiring into a person’s credit profile.

We as mortgage lenders are obligated to obtain each borrower’s permission to inquire into their credit and we must disclose to each borrower the results of our inquiry within five business days of receiving a borrower’s credit report with a disclosure that provides the borrower with their fico scores, the range of fico scores that are possible under each major bureau and the actual messages that contribute to each fico score reporting.

Below is a summary of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) courtesy of the Federal Trade Commission:

• You must be told if information in your file has been used against you. Anyone who uses a credit report or another type of consumer report to deny your application for credit, insurance, or employment – or to take another adverse action against you – must tell you, and must give you the name, address, and phone number of the agency that provided the information.

• You have the right to know what is in your file. You may request and obtain all the information about you in the files of a consumer reporting agency (your “file disclosure”). You will be required to provide proper identification, which may include your Social Security number. In many cases, the disclosure will be free. You are entitled to a free file disclosure if:

• a person has taken adverse action against you because of information in your credit report;

• you are the victim of identify theft and place a fraud alert in your file;

• your file contains inaccurate information as a result of fraud;

• you are on public assistance;

• you are unemployed but expect to apply for employment within 60 days.

In addition, effective September 2005 all consumers will be entitled to one free disclosure every 12 months upon request from each nationwide credit bureau and from nationwide specialty consumer reporting agencies. See www.ftc.gov/credit for additional information.

• You have the right to ask for a credit score. Credit scores are numerical summaries of your credit-worthiness based on information from credit bureaus. You may request a credit score from consumer reporting agencies that create scores or distribute scores used in residential real property loans, but you will have to pay for it. In some mortgage transactions, you will receive credit score information for free from the mortgage lender.

• You have the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. If you identify information in your file that is incomplete or inaccurate, and report it to the consumer reporting agency, the agency must investigate unless your dispute is frivolous. See www.ftc.gov/credit for an explanation of dispute procedures.

• Consumer reporting agencies must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or
unverifiable information. Inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information must be
removed or corrected, usually within 30 days. However, a consumer reporting agency may continue to report information it has verified as accurate.

• Consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information. In most cases, a consumer reporting agency may not report negative information that is more than seven years old, or bankruptcies that are more than 10 years old.

• Access to your file is limited. A consumer reporting agency may provide information about you only to people with a valid need -- usually to consider an application with a creditor, insurer, employer, landlord, or other business. The FCRA specifies those with a valid need for access.

• You must give your consent for reports to be provided to employers. A consumer reporting agency may not give out information about you to your employer, or a potential employer, without your written consent given to the employer. Written consent generally is not required in the trucking industry. For more information, go to www.ftc.gov/credit.

• You may limit “prescreened” offers of credit and insurance you get based on information in your credit report. Unsolicited “prescreened” offers for credit and insurance must include a toll-free phone number you can call if you choose to remove your name and address from the lists these offers are based on. You may opt-out with the nationwide credit bureaus at 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688).

• You may seek damages from violators. If a consumer reporting agency, or, in some cases, a user of consumer reports or a furnisher of information to a consumer reporting agency violates the FCRA, you may be able to sue in state or federal court.

• Identity theft victims and active duty military personnel have additional rights. For more information, visit www.ftc.gov/credit.

Next week we will take a look at identity theft and how we can help to educate our borrowers to keep their personal information safe.

About the Writer. As one of NAMP's volunteer writers, Stacey Sprain is currently a NAMP member in good standing and is a NAMP Certified Ambassador Loan Processor (CALP). If you would like to become a volunteer writer for NAMP, please email us at: blog@mortgageprocessor.org.

SOURCE: Published by NAMP Publishing Group, a division of the National Association of Mortgage Processors (http://www.MortgageProcessor.org)