Credit Reporting Rules Are Changing

The word “credit” is being tossed around constantly these days, and it has everything to do with the recent credit crunch and new legislation regarding credit cards. The Credit CARD Act of 2009 has a lot of provisions regarding what credit card companies are going to be allowed to do in the future, but there is also a sneaky little addendum regarding credit reports.

In today’s economy, your credit score has become a critical part of your financial identity. You’d have to look far and wide to find many places willing to lend you money without first checking your credit history. The option to get a car loan, buy real estate, refinance your home, leverage some money for a small business, and even to have a reasonable credit limit on your credit card, all hinge on that credit score and history.

Fortunately, Congress gave consumers the gift of one free credit report per year via AnnualCreditReport.com. Unfortunately, consumers had to sift through a lot of advertisements and confusing copy on the websites of each major credit bureau: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. This enables people to check and see what their credit history looks like to lenders. However, these sites are not obligated to give you your credit score for free, and they will try to sell you their credit monitoring services with a free copy of your credit score as an incentive.

What’s confusing to consumers is the whole process of finding out their credit history through AnnualCreditReport.com, and the number of other websites that offer “free” credit reports. Consumers have to dodge advertisements and hard sells of these services, and if they aren’t sure what their rights are, they might inadvertently purchase something that they didn’t want. The Federal Trade Commission (or FTC) is now authorized by the Credit CARD Act of 2009 to put a stop to the deceptive marketing practices of the credit bureaus by February 22 of next year.

This is a beneficial move because it makes it easier for consumers to find out what their credit histories are before they are inundated with advertisements by the various credit bureaus. Only AnnualCreditReport.com is authorized by the federal government to provide a free credit report, and there are competing websites that claim to provide credit reports without adequately differentiating themselves from AnnualCreditReport.com. This is something that the FTC has been commissioned to change as well, by requiring a very obvious disclosure on the website, and also an obvious link to AnnualCreditReport.com.

Getting your credit score at each of the three credit bureaus is still going to cost you a small fee. Currently, it’s possible to sign up for one of their credit monitoring services to get a free copy of your credit score, but then you have to remember to cancel within 30 days, or else you will charged monthly until you do. At any rate, the importance of keeping track of your credit history is now more important than ever, and Congress is actively working on making sure that Americans can do just that.

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