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San Diego, CA- A H.R 2622 is
a bill working its way through Congress and is titled
"Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. It
amends the current Fair Credit Reporting Act to "prevent
identity theft,
improve resolutions of consumer disputes, improve accuracy
of consumer records, make improvements in the use of, and
consumer access to credit information, and for other
purposes."
When approved by Congress, the House may vote in September
and the Senate later in the fall, the new provisions will
make it easier for consumers in all fifty states to deal
with their credit files. Among
the provisions are a free copy, annually upon request, of
credit reports from each of the three credit reporting
agencies (CRAs), disclosure of credit scores, which are
used by lenders when making lending decisions,
the latter is similar to a California law already on the books.
Further, when requesting your free credit reports, the
proposed law includes a provision whereby the CRA's must
notify consumers of their right to get
their credit scores and also include an explanation of
factors that may have a negative affect on your score.
Another provision calls for creditors to notify a consumer
whenever negative information is going to be sent to a CRA
for inclusion on your credit file. This provisions would
drastically reduce the number of inaccurate reports going
into files because the consumer will know in advance.
Currently creditors submit negative information to the
CRA's and never have to notify the consumer. Under this
provision, consumers
would know in advance if a lender was making a false
report on a late pay or other delinquency, for instance,
and therefore may dispute it in advance of it hitting
credit files.
Further, to help consumers who are actively shopping for a
mortgage, automobile or other type of loan, avoid having
an incredible number of inquiries on their credit reports
as a result, would receive a special
notification from the CRA that these inquiries are
lowering the consumer's credit score.
A new provision in H.R. 2622 would support the use of a
helpful option known as "rapid rescoring" which would be
used when applying for a mortgage. Example: A consumer
makes application for a mortgage and
some negatives appear, which the consumer is unaware of,
and as a result is offered a mortgage at a sub-prime rate
of interest. Consumers currently have the right to ask the
loan officer to reveal the data the
lender obtained and point out any mistakes, however errors
could not quickly be corrected for the borrower to qualify
for the market interest rate. With the new provision for
so-called "rapid rescoring" consumers
may ask for a rescoring which could be done in about 72
hours thereby enabling a consumer to get the market
interest rate. The lender must request the rescoring from
dozens of qualified credit bureaus to rescore your files
based on documentation you submitted about the mistakes.
Individual consumers may not contract with CRA's to
perform rescoring.
More information about agencies that engage in rapid
rescoring may be
found at www.ncrainc.org
More information about H. R. 2622 may be found at:
http://financialservices.house.gov/media/pdf/108hr2622ai.pdf
For help correcting credit file mistakes and free
information about the credit file correction process,
please visit: www.icfe.info.
To receive the same information by mail, please send $1
and a self-addressed, 60 cent stamped envelope to: ICFE,
Credit File Mistakes, PO Box 34070 San Diego, CA
92163-4070.
For more information contact: Paul Richard, RFC - ICFE
Executive
Director at 619-239-1401
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About the ICFE:
About the
ICFE:
The Institute of Consumer Financial Education (ICFE), founded in 1982 by the
late Loren Dunton (creator of the “certified financial planner” (CFP)
designation) and it is dedicated to helping consumers of all ages to improve
their spending, increase savings and use credit more wisely. The ICFE trains and
certifies Personal Finance Instructors for its own curriculum. It also trains
and certifies Credit Report Reviewers and Identity Theft Prevention Specialists.
The ICFE is an award winning, nonprofit, consumer education organization that
has helped millions of people through its education programs and resources. It
publishes the Do-It-Yourself Credit File correction Guide, now in its 16th
printing and has distributed over one million “Credit/Debit Card Warning Labels”
and “Credit/Debit Card Sleeves” world wide.
The ICFE became an official partner with the Department of Defense/Financial
Readiness Campaign in June of 2004.
The ICFE is also a partner in the national Jump$tart Coalition for Financial
Literacy and the California Jump$tart chapter. The ICFE staff is also active
with San Diego Saves, an offshoot of America Saves, and the California Student
Debt Resource Awareness Project (CASDRAP) (studentdebthelp.org).
The ICFE’s on-line help for consumers who spend too much was featured in PARADE
Magazine in the Intelligence Report section. The money helps and tips are from
“The Money Instruction Book,” a course in personal finance, positioned to become
among the premier programs in the new bankruptcy and debtor education
initiatives.
The ICFE Web site at:
http://www.icfe.info helps consumers with mending spending, learning about
the proper use of credit, budget and expense guidelines, how to set up and
implement a spending-plan and also how to access financial education courses and
videos and how to teach children about money. Other ICFE services include a free
eNewsletter, and an online resource center of financial education learning
tools, including videos, books, software and personal finance courses.
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