BCFP Updates FCRA Disclosures

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection yesterday issued an interim rule that updates a pair of model disclosures related to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The enactment of S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, requires credit reporting agencies to offer free credit freezes to consumers. The law mandates that whenever a consumer receive one of two disclosures — the Summary of Consumer Rights or the Summary of Consumer Identity Theft Rights — that information about the credit freeze be included in the disclosure. As well, the law extended the minimum time that a fraud alert must remain on a consumer’s credit report to one year, from 90 days.

In passing the law, Congress gave the BCFP until Sept. 21, when the law goes into effect, to create the new disclosures.

The Summary of Consumer Identity Theft Rights includes some information relevant to the ARM industry. Consumers have the right to obtain information from a debt collector. Debt collectors must provide information, such as the name of the creditor and the amount of the debt, when asked for it by a consumer.

Once a debt resulting from identity theft has been identified, the debt can not be sold or placed for collection.