The Fair Credit Reporting Act - From the Regulators Vantage Point
![handle is hein.journals/saclr14 and id is 473 raw text is: THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT-FROM
THE REGULATORS VANTAGE POINT
Sheldon Feldman*
This article evaluates the impact of the Fair Credit Report-
ing Act' (FCRA) on the American consumer. It reviews the
benefits and the inadequacies of this legislation from the view-
-point of a member of the staff of the Federal Trade Commis-
sion, the agency primarily charged with enforcing the Act. This
article does not deal with the embryonic development of the legis-
lation from the early days of congressional hearings involving
the right of privacy up to passage of the Act in 1970, as other ar-
ticles have already accomplished a thorough exposition in this
area.2
The Act was passed after it became increasingly evident in
congressional hearings that a law was needed to regulate the credit
reporting industry. Testimony at the hearings was replete with
cases of people who had been rendered virtually unemployable
or who had been refused credit on the basis of inaccurate and
damaging reports.' Since it is imperative that information for
purposes of credit extension or employment be available, no one
wished to abolish credit reporting. But the need for an accurate
trade association reporting system that would not only protect con-
sumers but would 'better serve the credit industry was apparent.4
Eventually, even the industry's main Associated Credit Bureaus,
* A.B., 1957, George Washington University; J.D. with Honors, 1961,
George Washington University; Assistant Director for Special Statutes, Federal
Trade Commission. The statements in this article represent only the views of
a member of the Federal Trade Commission staff. They are not intended to
be, and should not be construed as, representative of official Federal Trade Com-
mission policy.
1. 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681-81t (1970) [hereinafter cited as either FCRA or the
Act].
2. See, e.g., McNamara, The Fair Credit Reporting Act: A Legislative Over-
view, 22 J. OF PUBLIC L. 67 (1973); Redding, Fair Credit Reporting Act and
Non-Consumer Credit Information, 54 J. OF BANK LENDING 24 (1971); Ward,
The Consumer Credit Protection Act: An Analysis of Public Policy Formulation,
5 J. OF CONs. AFFAIRS 196 (1971).
3. What to Do If Your Credit Goes Bad, CONSUMER REPORTS, Apr., 1971
at 257.
4. Id.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/saclr14&div=32&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Fair Credit Reporting Act - From the Regulators Vantage Point
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