The Credit Laws. Your Rights, In Plain English.

Fair Credit Reporting Act — The Accuracy Law.

The FCRA governs what bureaus and furnishers may say about you. The load-bearing rights: §611 — dispute anything; the bureau must reinvestigate (generally 30 days) and delete what can’t be verified. §605 — negatives expire: most at seven years, bankruptcy at ten, inquiries at two. §605B — the identity-theft block: fraud items must come off within four business days with an FTC report. §623 — furnishers carry their own duty to report accurately and investigate disputes. Plus: free reports, and adverse-action disclosure when a report is used against you.

How often does the accuracy promise fail? The CFPB’s complaint data is public — we compile the credit-reporting slice every quarter in Credit Reporting Complaints, By The Numbers.

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act — The Collector Leash.

The FDCPA governs third-party collectors. The rights that matter: validation — demand proof of the debt and their right to collect it, and collection pauses until they answer; no harassment — call-time limits, no threats, no lies about what they can do; written boundaries — you can require contact in writing, or end contact entirely. Collectors violate this law constantly, and violations are leverage — document everything.

Credit Repair Organizations Act — The Leash On Us.

CROA regulates credit repair companies, and you should hold every company to it — this one included: no payment before work is performed, a written contract stating services and timeline, a right to cancel, no advising you to lie or create a “new credit identity,” and no guaranteed outcomes, ever. Every red flag we warn about on this site is just a CROA violation wearing a sales pitch.

Equal Credit Opportunity Act — The Reasons Law.

ECOA bans lending discrimination and — the part this site uses daily — requires adverse-action notices: deny credit and you must state the specific reasons, or the right to request them, generally with 60 days to ask. Those stated reasons are the diagnostic that powers the Debrief and all 78 decoded reason pages. The law made lenders tell you why. We made the why readable.