What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
The following table contains a summary of your rights as a consumer.
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Law |
Your Rights |
Go to Source |
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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) |
You have a right to a free credit report from each of the major credit reporting bureaus (Experian, Equifax, & TransUnion) once every 12 months. |
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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) |
You have a right to a free credit report from a fourth credit reporting bureau, Core Logic once every 12 months. |
1-877-532-8778 |
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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) |
You have a right to a free specialty consumer report from Medical Information Bureau (MIB) once every 12 months. |
http://www.mib.com/html/request_your_record.html 1-866-692-6901 |
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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) |
You have a right to a free specialty consumer report from each of the major insurance consumer reporting bureaus (LexisNexis and Insurance Service Office) once every 12 months. |
https://personalreports.lexisnexis.com/index.jsp 1-866-312-8076
www.iso.com/offices_contacts/index.html 1-800-627-3487 |
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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) |
You have a right to a free specialty consumer report from Chex Systems and check writing history reports once every 12 months. |
ChexSystems https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/freereport.htm 1-800-428-9623
Shared Check Authorization Network (SCAN) www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/consumerreports/index.htm#TopOfPage 1-800-262-7771
TeleCheck www.telecheck.com 1-800-835-3243 |
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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) |
You have a right to a free residential tenant reports once every 12 months.
There are many firms that create these reports. The most common one are LexisNexis Resident History Report, CoreLogic SafeRent, Tenant Data, and RentBureau. |
LexisNexis https://personalreports.lexisnexis.com/resident_history_report.jsp 1-877-448-5732
CoreLogic http://corelogic.saferent.com/consumer_relations/forms/index.php 1-888-333-2413
Tenant Data www.tenantdata.com/downloads.php 1-800-228-1837
RentBureau www.experian.com/rentbureau/rental-payment.html 1-877-704-4519 |
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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) |
You have a right to a free employment reports once every 12 months from The Work Number, LexisNexis, and Social Intelligence Corp. If employment is denied based upon background checks, you have the right to a FREE copy of the report provided the prospective employer.
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The Work Number 1-800-996-7566
LexisNexis https://personalreports.lexisnexis.com/employment_history_report.jsp 1-866-312-8075
Social Intelligence Corp
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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) |
You have the right to Opt-Out for Marketing. This means that you can stop a corporation from sharing information about you with their affiliates. Unfortunately, all of the details of this right and the final regulations are still pending.
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For more on the existing opt-outs, see PRC Fact Sheet 24, Protecting Financial Privacy in the New Millennium: The Burden Is on You, www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs24-finpriv.htm, and Fact 24a, Financial Privacy: How to Read Your Opt-Out Notices, www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs24a-optout.htm.
The FTC and the federal banking agencies have proposed regulations to create this new opt-out procedure. www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/06/factaaffiliate.htm. As of this writing, the agencies have not adopted final rules. |
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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) |
You must receive a notice if you are offered credit on terms that are "materially" less favorable than the terms others received from the creditor. |
This covers the situation where you apply for a loan and, although you get the loan, you have to pay a higher interest rate than most people because of something in your credit history. If this happens, you are entitled to notice plus a free copy of your credit report. Like many other provisions included in FACTA, the risk-based pricing notices aim to give consumers the tools to identify and an opportunity to correct inaccuracies in their credit reports.
The FTC and the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) have set out the details of the risk-based pricing notices requirement with January 1, 2011, as the effective date. The risk-based pricing notice requirement does not override the notice requirement that consumer reporting agencies are required to make to "users" of consumer reports. www.ftc.gov/os/2004/07/040709fcraappxh.pdf |
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Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd Frank) |
You have the right to have all costs, i.e. fees, risks, and conflicts of interest clearly and concisely stated. |
Subtitle A – Increasing Investor Protection
401K providers must communicate this information on each participant’s statement. |
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Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd Frank) |
The SEC has the authority to impose a standard of care and define the fiduciary duty between broker-dealers and investment advisors and their customers. |
Subtitle A – Increasing Investor Protection
This provision is currently being challenged by broker-dealers. |
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Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd Frank) |
You have the right to choose whether or not you pay overdraft fees. |
See your bank or credit union for specific details. |
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Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd Frank) |
You have the right to receive your credit scores free of charge if you are refused credit or charged a higher price for credit than most consumers because of your score. |
This provision is an acceptable alternative to the risk based pricing section of The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). |
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Fair Debt Collection Practices Act |
You have the right to require a debt collector send you written proof that you are the legal debtor for the debt they are attempting to collect. |
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Fair Debt Collection Practices Act |
Creditors and debt collectors have a limited time in which to sue you for unpaid debts. The Statute of Limitation in the State of Texas is 4 years.
HOWEVER, any time you make a payment on a debt, regardless of the amount of the payment, the clock is reset and the 4 year count starts over. Acknowledging that a debt is yours will also reset the clock. |
Statute of Limitation and Time Barred Debt, www.ftc.gov
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CP/htm/CP.16.htm#16.004
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Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 |
You have the right to put both your home phone and cell phones on the National Do Not Call Registry free of charge. |
Scammers have been making phone calls claiming to represent the National Do Not Call Registry. The calls claim to provide an opportunity to sign up for the Registry. These calls are not coming from the Registry or the Federal Trade Commission, and you should not respond to these calls. To add your number to the Registry you can call 888-382-1222 from the phone you wish to register, or go to www.donotcall.gov. |