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Fair Credit Reporting Act, 1970

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Fair Credit Reporting Act, 1970
Introduction to Computer Applications BIS/220

Fair Credit Reporting Act, 1970

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act which is also known as FCRA was enacted in 1970 to uphold the precision, equality, and confidentiality of any personal information that is in the files and reported by the consumer reporting agencies or credit reporting agencies also known as CRAs. There are many types of CRAs, including credit bureaus and specialty agencies. CRAs gather reports on people for different industries, which can include credit card companies, banks, property-owners, businesses, and other entities. Special protections provided by the FCRA are for credit reports, investigatory consumer reports, and background checks for employment. Since 1970 the FCRA is a multifaceted decree that has considerably been reformed by Congress and the courts.

In order to protect the discretion and correctness, CRAs are required to comply with "reasonable procedures" along with precision, and importance of credit information. The FCRA inaugurates an outline of Fair Information Practices for personal evidence that contain privileges of facts superiority or right to review and update, data safekeeping, utilize boundaries, requirements for data demolition, bill, user input consensus, and liability. Also CRAs can correspondingly be referred as "credit bureaus" or "consumer reporting agencies. Being the first federal law to regulate the use of private business and the use of personal information, it was passed in response to the expanding industry in credit reporting.

Retail Credit Co was one of the first major credit reporting agencies that began in 1899. Retail Credit Co has evolved and purchased many less fortunate companies to insurers and employers as selling reports. Substantial polemic delimited the CRAs because of their reports being used to refute services and chances, not allowing individuals the right to access information located in their file, by the 1960s. Investigators have filed fictitious adverse information while others disregarded to include complete information. They were including data regarding marital status, cleanliness, sexual orientation, and drinking habits.

The advances in information technology that resulted in new ethical issues necessitating the creation because of outdated information that was being maintained by the CRAs caused public exposure which in turn lead to Congressional examination and federal regulation. The passage of FCRA in 1970 was a result of many years of legislative leadership by Representative Leonor Sullivan and Senator William Proxmire. Over the next ten years, Senator Proxmire pledged to expand the FCRA’s protections.

References

Retrieved from http://www.consumer.ftc.gov
Retrieved from http://epic.org/privacy/fcra/
Retrieved from www.consumerfinance.gov

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