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Fair Credit Reporting: Virginia

Child Support Debts Statute: Va. Code Ann. § 63.2-1940.

Child Support Enforcement Division shall report child support arrears to consumer reporting agencies. Obligors must be notified prior to release of information and given a reasonable opportunity to contest accuracy of information.

Credit Information in Personal Insurance Statute: Va. Code Ann. §§ 38.2-2114, 38.2-2126, 38.2-2212, 38.2-2234.

Fair Credit Reporting: Virgin Islands

Child Support Debts Statute: V.I. Code Ann. tit. 16, § 366.

Child support delinquencies shall be reported to CRAs after advance notice to obligor and notice of right to file an appeal.

Data Security Breach Statute: V.I. Code Ann. tit. 14, §§ 2208 to 2212.

Fair Credit Reporting: Washington

Credit Information in Personal Insurance Statute: Wash. Rev. Code. § 48.19.035.

Scope: Use of credit information in personal insurance rates, premiums, or eligibility.

Disclosures: Must disclose that it may obtain credit information and, if adverse action taken, must disclose in clear and specific language the reasons for adverse action.176

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.1 Introduction

A credit score is a number compiled from a consumer’s file at a consumer reporting agency (CRA), sometimes in conjunction with information obtained from a credit application or other sources. Credit scores are used as a factor, sometimes the sole factor, in determining whether to grant credit to a consumer. The credit score may be the single most influential, critical piece of information associated with a consumer’s file at a CRA.

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.2.2.3 Custom Versus Generic Scores

Historically, most credit scoring systems were custom models built for a particular lender or user. These models were developed using data in the lender’s own customer files. The factors in the model and the weights assigned to each factor were derived from the characteristics of the lender’s customer base, and the lender’s experience with each customer.30

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.2.2.4 Specialty Scores

Some credit scoring models are designed for specific purposes or for specific industries.33 For example, FICO offers a specialty score for automobile finance34 and a risk assessment scores for utility providers.35 Indeed, FICO alone has forty-nine different scoring models,36 with twenty-eight of them used most often, discussed in more detail at

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.2.2.5 Credit Application Scores

Credit application scores combine credit history information with information derived from an application for a particular type of credit.55 This information may include employment history, income, loan collateral, debt-to-income ratio and cash reserves. Credit application scores are often used for automobile loan and mortgage applications.

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.2.3.1 FCRA Definition

The Fair Credit Reporting Act defines a credit score as:

[A] numerical value or a categorization derived from a statistical tool or modeling system used by a person who makes or arranges a loan to predict the likelihood of certain credit behaviors, including default (and the numerical value or the categorization derived from such analysis may be referred to as a “risk predictor” or “risk score”).60

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.3.1.1 Ubiquity of Credit Scores

The use of credit scores in determining whether to extend consumer credit, and the terms of that credit, has grown dramatically in the past few decades, particularly in the home mortgage business. Over ninety percent of mortgage lenders and credit-card issuers use credit scores in making lending decisions.77 The leading scoring provider, FICO, reports that ten billion of its scores are purchased every year.78

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.3.1.2 Credit Invisibility

The vast majority of adult Americans, nearly 200 million, have a credit score, but a smaller percentage are “credit invisible.”82 A CFPB study found that about twenty-six million consumers, or 11% of the adult U.S. population, lack any file at the nationwide consumer reporting agencies.83 Another nineteen million consumers, or 8.3% of the adult U.S.

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.4.1.1 Which CRAs Are Required to Disclose Credit Scores

The FCRA requires consumer reporting agencies to disclose credit scores to consumers upon their request, for a fee.99 A CRA is required to disclose a credit score if the CRA either: (1) distributes scores that are used in connection with residential real property loans or (2) develops scores that assist credit providers in understanding the general credit behavior of a consumer and predicting the future behavior of the consumer.100

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.4.1.3 Price of a Credit Score

The CRAs may charge a fee for the credit score, as determined by the CFPB.114 Previously, this authority was granted to the FTC.115 The FTC issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) in 2004, in which the agency appeared to be considering setting the fee at a price similar to the prices charged in the unregulated market, which the FTC cited as from about four to eight dollars.116

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.4.1.4 What Scores Are Required to Be Disclosed

The FCRA requires that the credit score disclosed by the CRAs must either (a) be generated using a scoring model that is widely distributed to users by the CRA in connection with residential real property loans or (b) assist the consumer in understanding the assessment by the credit scoring model of their credit behavior and predications about that behavior.121 The second option permits CRAs to disclose credit scores that are not used by lenders at all.

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.4.1.5 Disclosure of Non-Credit Risk Scores

The FCRA’s requirement to disclose credit scores at section 1681g(f) only requires the CRAs to disclose risk scores that predict “credit behavior.”127 This particular requirement does not require CRAs to disclose any other type of risk score, such as specialty scores;128 the FCRA’s general requirement for disclosure of consumer reports specifically exempts not only credit scores, but also “risk scores or predictors.”129 This lack of a d

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.4.1.6 How to Obtain a Credit Score

Consumers who wish to obtain their credit scores for a fee can go to the FICO website, which offers a number of different FICO score products to consumers. Consumers can purchase a copy of their FICO score based on either their Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion file, or they can purchase all three scores. Consumers can also get their credit reports from one or all of these CRAs when they buy their FICO scores from the myfico.com website.132

Fair Credit Reporting: 16.4.3.1 When Required

The FCRA requires mortgage lenders who use credit scores in connection with an application for residential real-estate secured credit to provide, free of charge, certain credit scoring information. This requirement applies to both open-end and closed credit secured by one- to four-family residential real estate, including purchase and refinance transactions.146 This requirement applies regardless of the final action taken by the lender on the application.

Fair Credit Reporting: Pennsylvania

Child Support Debts Statute: 23 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 4303.

State shall report any child support arrearages provided that obligor is given notice and a period of up to twenty days to contest the accuracy of the information.

Credit Repair Statute: 73 Pa. Stat. Ann. §§ 2181 to 2192 (West).

Fair Credit Reporting: Puerto Rico

Child Support Debts Statute: P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 8, § 528.

Child Support Administration shall report child support arrears to consumer reporting agencies. Obligors must be notified prior to release of information and notified that they have ten days to either pay the debt or challenge the report (with opportunity to present evidence).

Credit Repair Statute: P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 7, §§ 631 to 631aa.