N.Y. General Business Law 380-D – Disclosure to consumers
§ 380-d. Disclosure to consumers. (a) Every consumer reporting agency shall, upon request and proper identification of any consumer, clearly and accurately disclose to the consumer:
Terms Used In N.Y. General Business Law 380-D
- consumer: means an individual. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
- consumer report: means any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living which is used or expected to be used or collected in whole or part for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the consumer's eligibility for (i) credit or insurance to be used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, (ii) employment purposes, or (iii) other purposes authorized under section three hundred eighty-b of this article. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
- consumer reporting agency: means any person who, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports or investigative consumer reports to third parties. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- employment purposes: when used in connection with a consumer report means a report used for the purpose of evaluating a consumer for employment, promotion, reassignment or retention as an employee. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
- file: when used in connection with information on any consumer, means all of the information on that consumer recorded and retained by a consumer reporting agency regardless of how the information is stored. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, co-operative, association, government or governmental subdivision, agency or other entity. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- proper identification: means information generally deemed sufficient to identify a person. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
(1) all information in its files at the time of the request concerning such consumer; and
(2) the sources of the information; except that the sources of information acquired solely for use in preparing an investigative consumer report and actually used for no other purpose need not be disclosed; provided, however, that in the event an action is brought under section three hundred eighty-n of this article, such sources shall be available to the plaintiff under appropriate discovery procedures in the court in which the action is brought; and
(3) the recipients of any consumer report on the consumer which it has furnished;
(i) for employment purposes within the two-year period preceding the request, and
(ii) for any other purpose within the six month period preceding the request.
(b) The requirements of subdivision (a) of this section respecting the disclosure of sources of information and the recipients of consumer reports do not apply to information received or consumer reports furnished prior to the effective date of this article except to the extent that the matter involved is contained in the files of the consumer reporting agency on that date.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, every consumer reporting agency, upon contact by a consumer by phone, mail or in person regarding information which may be contained in the agency's files which has been or may be used for the purpose of providing a consumer report regarding that consumer, shall promptly advise the consumer of the obligation of the agency to provide disclosure of the files in person, by mail or by telephone pursuant to this section, including the obligation of the agency to provide a decoded written version of the file or a written copy of the file with an explanation of any code used, if the consumer so requests. The disclosure shall be provided in the manner selected by the consumer. All consumers shall be specifically advised that if they have been denied credit in the past thirty days they are entitled to receive a written copy of their complete file, at no charge whatsoever, should they choose to request such a copy.