November 2, 2012

Modified Fair Credit Reporting Act Forms Required Effective January 1, 2013 

Three forms required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) have been modified and are required effective January 1, 2013. The three modified forms are the Summary of Consumer Rights, the Notice of Furnisher Responsibilities, and the Notice of User Responsibilities. For employers, the Summary of Consumer Rights and the Notice of User Responsibilities are the two most important modified forms to be aware of and begin implementing January 1, 2013.

 

Fully entitled "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act," the Summary of Consumer Rights is a summary of FCRA rights to be provided by the employer to the employee/applicant in two key instances:

 

1) Before an adverse employment decision is made on the basis of the report: Along with the Consumer Report, the employer must provide the employee/applicant the newly modified document, "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act," before taking adverse action against the employee/applicant. This provides the employee/applicant an opportunity to review the report for inaccurate information and fully assess their rights and potential recourses before adverse action is taken against them on the basis of the consumer report.

 

2) An employer must also provide the summary of rights to the employee/applicant who makes a written request for more information after being notified that an Investigative Consumer Report (much more in-depth report) is being sought by the employer.     

 

As an employer, it is also important to take note of the Notice of User Responsibilities, fully entitled "Notice to Users of Consumer Reports: Obligations of Users under the FCRA." This document must be provided to you by any consumer reporting agency whose services you have requested. It outlines user (employer) responsibilities under the FCRA.   

 

These three newly modified forms are available here by following the links to Appendix K to Part 1022-Summary of Consumer Rights, Appendix M to Part 1022-Notice of Furnisher Responsibilities, and Appendix N to Part 1022-Notice of User Responsibilities, respectively. For reference purposes, the current forms in effect until December 31, 2012 are available here by following the links to Appendix F to Part 698-General Summary of Consumer Rights, Appendix G to Part 698-Notice of Furnisher Responsibilities, and Appendix H to Part 698-Notice of User Responsibilities, respectively.  

 

As you can see, the modified forms are nearly identical to the currently required forms except for their directing the consumer/employee/applicant to the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) as opposed to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to obtain more information about their rights under the FCRA. The change is a result of the transition of rulemaking and interpreting authority of the FCRA from the FTC to the recently created CFPB.


About Ahlers and Cooney's Client Alerts

Our Client Alerts are intended to provide occasional general comments on new developments in Federal and State law and regulations which we believe might be of interest to our clients. The Client Alerts should not be considered opinions of Ahlers & Cooney, P.C., and are not intended to provide legal advice as a substitute for seeking professional counsel. Readers should not under any circumstance act upon the information in this publication without seeking specific professional counsel. Ahlers & Cooney will be pleased to provide additional details regarding any article upon request. Additional copies of this Client Alert may be obtained by contacting any attorney in the Firm or by visiting the Firm's website at www.ahlerslaw.com.

 

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