More Free Credit Reports

Puerto Rico’s lawmakers enacted Act 47 of January 30,  2006 requiring credit agencies operating in Puerto Rico to provide citizens with a free copy of their credit report, at their request, once every 12 month. The law further requires credit agencies to post a notice of this obligation in two places; one printed in a placard located in the area of the company where the reports are distributed.  The the other notice must be located in the top portion of the first page of each report issued.

The law boasts that it seeks to improve federal legislation which -supposedly-only provided the right to a free report upon an adverse credit decision. This is wrong information. Ironically the law aims to provide citizens with accurate credit data but actually includes misleading information.

For many years federal law entitled consumers to request a free report if a company took adverse action against the consumer such as denying an application for credit. However, The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) was signed into Federal law December 2003 amending  and adding new sections to the The Fair Credit Reporting Act. This law requires  each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies  to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit report, at their request, once every 12 months.  The Federal Trade Commision gradually phased-in  the free report benefit throughout the U.S. over a period of nine months. In the case of Puerto Rico consumers became eligible for the free report  on September 1, 2005.  FACTA also enacted regulations to fight identity theft, increase accuracy, privacy and limits on information sharing in reports. 

By the way, the free requirement may help explain all the credit reports being offered on the Web.  Be careful.  Looking for free reports might cost you in other ways. Many of these so-called free reports sites are marketing  boiler rooms to get you  signing up for and paying monthly subscription services for information you may not really need.  Perhaps more serious is the fact that there are hundreds of impostor sites ready to take your private information. Free reports from the three credit agencies in the U.S. can be requested on line in a centralized location  at annualcreditreport.com.   For more information on consumer credit check the Federal Trade Commission.