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Oh, You Meant Accurate and Clear
When a consumer requests his credit report, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the reporting agency to "clearly and accurately disclose" the information in the consumer's file. Apparently, there was some part of "clearly and accurately" that the credit agencies did not understand, judging by last week's 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, Gillespie v. Equifax Information Systems. As the Consumer Law & Policy Blog explains, "the court reminded the world that a technically accurate disclosure is not necessarily a clear disclosure." Here is what the 7th Circuit had to say, after first citing dictionary definitions of "clearly" and "accurately":
"We conclude that the consumer reporting agency must do more than simply make an accurate disclosure of the information in the consumer’s credit file. The disclosure must be made in a manner sufficient to allow the consumer to compare the disclosed information from the credit file against the consumer’s personal information in order to allow the consumer to determine the accuracy of the information set forth in her credit file. In writing § 1681g(a)(1), Congress requires disclosure that is both 'clearly and accurately' made. An accurate disclosure of unclear information defeats the consumer’s ability to review the credit file, eliminating a consumer protection procedure established by Congress under the FCRA."
Is that clear now?
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on May 7, 2007 at 06:07 PM | Permalink
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