Knowing Your Rights Regarding Credit
Posted by admin under: Main Nov 01Having good credit is extremely important. Credit can effect everything from where you live to what kind of job you will have. If you rent, many quality housing complexes or homes require a credit check. If you happen to have a negative credit report, you may be out of luck. Also, many employees require a credit check as a prerequisite to hiring. Think bad credit does not effect you, think again. It can keep you from getting a mortgage or pay more for the mortgage than you otherwise would. For example, you could be paying the same amount as far as a mortgage goes as your neighbor, but they possibly could have a much nicer house. A lower interest rate will enable you to buy a more expensive house because more of the payment will go to principle instead of interest. A few percentage points can make have a huge impact on the kind of house or neighborhood you live in.
Because credit is so important, it is important that people learn everything they can about credit at a young age. Credit or personal finance is not something usually taught in our schools but should be. Your understanding of the law regarding credit will help you tremendously personally and financially if you have been treated unfairly. Credit and credit granters are controlled by state laws and the Federal government. They fall under provisions on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Both of these aim at helping the consumer become manipulated or harassed by a creditor. These two acts provide certain rights that every consumer is entitled to. It is very important that they know about these rights and enforce them.
The Fair Debt Collection Act encourages fair and non-discriminatory treatment of consumers. It forbids them of using harsh or deceptive means to collect a debt. They can not visit you personally at your door step or call you after a certain time of the day, usually 9PM. It also lets the consumer question the validity of the debt to insure that it is correct. Technically, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act does not apply to banks, department stores or anyone that has their own collection department, basically not hiring it out. It applies primarily to third party debt collectors who have been licensed to do business.
Debt collectors are allowed to contact other people in attempt to locate you. They can only attempt to find you, not harass the person they are contacting. They are only allowed to contact you between the hours of 8:00 a.m and 9:00 p.m. the debtors local time. They are not allowed to pressure or make threats unless they actually plan on carrying out the threats. They can threaten to file a lawsuit but only if they intend on actually doing just that.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is something else that the United States Federal government uses to protect its citizens. It aims to uphold the truthful transmission and distribution of your credit file information. Under this act, credit reporting agencies are only allowed to give your credit file to authorized companies or entities who request it or whom you have given explicit permission. They are not allowed to disclose information to the general public. Only employers, creditors or government agencies have access to an individual’s credit file.
You also have the right to know why you were denied credit under this act. You can request the details of the denied credit free of charge after you get the paperwork stating you denied. You can contact the credit bureau that the requesting company used for the report. The two acts have helped consumers over the years from being harassed and bombarded with the stress that can come from an unruly bill collector. Could you imagine life without the rules they are required to follow?
David Pierce is owner of Consolidating your Credit Card Debt aimed at informing people how to consolidate and eliminate burdensome debt.
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Thursday, November 1st, 2007 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.