how the fair credit billing act works
the federal trade commission enforces the fair credit billing act which covers open end credit accounts such as credit cards charge accounts and lines of credit the act provides consumers with protection from unfair billing practices such as during an investigation a consumer may withhold payment only on the disputed amount not on the rest of their bill 1rules for consumersrules for card issuers and other lenderswhile the fair credit billing act limits a cardholder s liability for unauthorized charges to 50 many card issuers now have voluntary zero liability policies that reduce it to 0 fair credit billing act fcba vs fair credit reporting act fcra the fair credit billing act is often compared to the fair credit reporting act fcra both are designed to protect consumers from bad credit practices but the purpose of each law is different the fair credit reporting act is a federal law that regulates the collection and reporting of credit information about consumers the law governs how a consumer s credit information is collected and shared with others 2in other words the fcba protects consumers from unfair billing practices while the fcra protects them from unfair practices involving their personal information 