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CREDIT APPLICATIONS, CREDIT REPORTS, AND CONTRACTS

The following information is not intended to be legal advice. You should consult with your attorney to ensure that you are in compliance with applicable law.

Since the late 1960s, federal law has restricted the use of credit reports and required creditors to notify consumers of credit decisions and describe credit terms in finance contracts. The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, passed in 1968, includes the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), as well as other laws relating to wage garnishments and debt collection practices. The 2003 FACT Act added additional consumer rights,

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disclosures, and protections concerning credit reports, affiliate information sharing, identity theft protection, and risk-based pricing notices to the FCRA. Title X of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, also known as the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, requires additional consumer disclosures in adverse action notices. State laws also govern lease and finance transactions, limit fees and charges in connection therewith, and require certain additional consumer disclosures for motor vehicle finance and lease transactions. IMPORTANT LAWS AND REGULATIONS The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) FCRA is a federal law that regulates, among other things, the access, use, and distribution of information that meets the definition of a“consumer report,”including a credit score. For FCRA purposes, a“consumer report”(often informally called a credit report) includes eligibility information contained in such reports, as well as certain information obtained from third parties, such as employer or landlord. FCRA requires a dealer to have a“permissible purpose”to obtain a consumer report. A consumer’s written consent is the best proof of a permissible purpose and may be required to access consumer reports in a state like Vermont, and may also be required under certain contracts with the credit bureaus. Most credit application forms contain language providing for such written consent. However, a dealer may also have a permissible purpose to obtain a consumer report when the consumer clearly understands that he or she is initiating a transaction to purchase or lease a vehicle and the dealer has a legitimate business need for the credit report to complete the transaction. Many dealers have reason to want a consumer report earlier in the process, in which case they must rely on written authorization from the consumer to obtain the report, as the FTC has stated that pulling a consumer report for comparison shopping purposes or for cash customers is not permitted under FCRA without the customer’s prior written consent to do so. FCRA also requires giving the consumer an “adverse action notice” if the creditor used a credit report, in whole or in part, as a factor in denying credit to the consumer or offering the consumer credit on terms less favorable than those the consumer requested (unless the consumer accepts the less favorable terms). Adverse action notices are discussed below.

195 2020 MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY & SERVICES GUIDE