Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
The credit bureaus and the companies that report to them operate under one federal law: the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It gives you the right to an accurate report — and gives you a claim, with damages and attorney's fees, when they break it. Here is how it works, in plain English.
Your Rights
Your FCRA Rights
The federal law that governs every credit report. What the bureaus and furnishers owe you — and what they pay when they get it wrong.
15 U.S.C. § 1681
The 7-Year Rule
Most negative information must drop off after seven years. Reporting it past the deadline is obsolete-information reporting — a violation.
15 U.S.C. § 1681c
Identity Theft
Fraudulent accounts from identity theft must be blocked once you report them. The FCRA gives you specific, enforceable remedies.
15 U.S.C. § 1681c-2
The Dispute Process
Disputing an Error
The dispute is the legal trigger. How to file it with the bureau, in writing, with proof — so a failed fix becomes a federal claim.
15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)
Reinvestigation Duty
Once you dispute, the bureau has 30 days to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation. What 'reasonable' means — and when a rubber-stamp violates the law.
15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)
Statute of Limitations
Two years from discovery, five years maximum. Why the clock makes acting on a credit error time-sensitive.
15 U.S.C. § 1681p
Damages & Claims
Willful vs. Negligent
Negligence gets you actual damages. Willfulness opens statutory and punitive damages — and the repeated-dispute pattern often proves it.
15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n, 1681o
FCRA Damages
Actual damages, statutory damages of $100–$1,000, punitive damages, and attorney's fees — how an FCRA recovery is actually built.
15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n, 1681o
No Cost to You
The FCRA shifts attorney's fees to the defendant when you win. That is why credit-report cases are handled at no out-of-pocket cost.
15 U.S.C. § 1681n(a)(3)
Specific Violations
Furnisher Duties
The bank or collector that reported the bad data has its own legal duty to investigate a bureau-routed dispute — and its own liability.
15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b)
Improper Reinsertion
A corrected item that 'comes back' is its own distinct FCRA violation — with its own notice rules the bureau almost always breaks.
15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(5)
Mixed Files
The bureaus merge files of people with similar names or SSNs. A mixed file is a maximum-accuracy violation under the FCRA.
15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)
Is Your Credit Report Wrong?
Tell us what's on your report. We'll review it at no cost — and in successful cases, the defendant pays the legal fees, not you.
Free review. No obligation. No out-of-pocket cost in cases we take.