how the fair credit reporting act fcra works
the fair credit reporting act is the primary federal law that governs the collection and reporting of credit information about consumers its rules cover how a consumer s credit information is obtained how long it is kept and how it is shared with others including consumers themselves the federal trade commission ftc and the consumer financial protection bureau cfpb are the two federal agencies charged with overseeing and enforcing the provisions of the law many states also have their own laws relating to credit reporting the fcra in its entirety can be found in united states code title 15 section 1681 1the three major credit reporting bureaus equifax experian and transunion as well as other more specialized companies collect and sell information on individual consumers financial history the information in their reports is also used to compute consumers credit scores which can affect for example the interest rate that they ll have to pay to borrow money or whether they can qualify for a loan at all the year the fair credit reporting act fcra public law no 91 508 was passed by the u s congress to promote the accuracy fairness and privacy of personal information collected in credit reports it has been amended a number of times in the years since 