Connecticut General Statutes 36a-699a – Written summary of consumer’s rights
Each written summary of a consumer’s rights under state and federal consumer credit reporting statutes shall be in a form substantially similar to the following:
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 36a-699a
- Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
- Company: means any corporation, joint stock company, trust, association, partnership, limited partnership, unincorporated organization, limited liability company or similar organization, but does not include (A) any corporation the majority of the shares of which are owned by the United States or by any state, or (B) any trust which by its terms shall terminate within twenty-five years or not later than twenty-one years and ten months after the death of beneficiaries living on the effective date of the trust. See Connecticut General Statutes 36a-2
- Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. Source: OCC
- Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. Source: OCC
- State: means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, any territory of the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the trust territory of the Pacific Islands, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. See Connecticut General Statutes 36a-2
“You have a right to obtain a copy of your credit file from a credit rating agency. You may be charged a reasonable fee not exceeding five dollars for your first request in twelve months or seven dollars and fifty cents for any subsequent request in that same twelve-month period. There is no fee, however, if you have been turned down for credit, employment, insurance or a rental dwelling because of information in your credit report within the preceding sixty days. The credit rating agency must provide someone to help you interpret the information in your credit file.
You have a right to dispute inaccurate information by contacting the credit rating agency directly. However, neither you nor any credit repair company or credit service organization has the right to have accurate, current and verifiable information removed from your credit report. Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, the credit rating agency must remove accurate, negative information from your report only if it is over seven years old. Bankruptcy information can be reported for ten years.
If you have notified a credit rating agency in writing that you dispute the accuracy of information in your file, the credit rating agency must then, within thirty business days, reinvestigate and modify or remove inaccurate information. If you provide additional information to the credit rating agency, the agency may extend this time period by fifteen business days. The credit rating agency shall provide you with a toll-free telephone number to use in resolving the dispute.
The credit rating agency may not charge a fee for this service. Any pertinent information and copies of all documents you have concerning an error should be given to the credit rating agency.
If reinvestigation does not resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you may send a brief statement to the credit rating agency to keep in your file, explaining why you think the record is inaccurate. The credit rating agency must include your statement about disputed information in a report it issues about you.
You have a right to receive a record of all inquiries relating to a credit transaction initiated in twelve months preceding your request which resulted in the provision of a credit report.
You may request in writing that the information contained in your file not be provided to a third party for marketing purposes.
If you have reviewed your credit report with the credit rating agency and are dissatisfied, you may contact the Connecticut Department of Banking. You have a right to bring civil action against anyone who knowingly or wilfully misuses file data or improperly obtains access to your file.”