Consumers have a legion of federal protections, whether they’re opening savings accounts, taking out loans or trying to build a good credit record.
“There’s a broad array of consumer protection laws that relate to financial activities,” said Bob Mooney, deputy director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s division of supervision and consumer protection. “Some have been around for a while and we’ve come to take them for granted.”
Take the Truth in Lending Act. Originally enacted by Congress in 1968, this law is designed to make sure lenders disclose all costs in their loan agreements.
Another agency, the Federal Trade Commission, is responsible for enforcing many of the nation’s consumer protection laws, including:
» The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which prohibits deceptive or abusive practices by debtcollectors.
» The Consumer Leasing Act, which regulates personal property leases of four months or more.
» The Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, which defines and prohibits deceptive telemarketing practices.
Among the most important laws is the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which protects the information collected by credit bureaus and other consumer reporting agencies. The FTC also enforces the most recent amendment to the act, The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, known as the FACT Act.
Attorney Joel Winston, an associate director in the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection, said the acts are important to consumers because they deal with credit reports, which track how much debt consumers have and how promptly they pay their bills. The better the report, the better terms a consumer is likely to get from a creditor.
“More and more, your ability to get a loan or a job or rent an apartment or get insurance — and the terms you get — depend on your credit report,” he said.
“Often the first place that signs of ID theft show up is on your credit report,” he said.
That’s one of the reasons Congress included a provision in the FACT Act that allows consumers to get a free copy of their credit report every year from each of the three main credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, he said.
Under the FACT Act, consumers also can place fraud alerts on their credit files if they fear they’ve become a victim of identity thieves.
Eileen Alt Powell writes for the AP.
