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Fair Credit Reporting: 6.10.4.1 The “Reasonable Investigation” Standard

After receiving notice from a CRA that information provided by the furnisher has been disputed, the furnisher must review the information provided by the CRA and conduct its own investigation of the accuracy and completeness of the disputed information.689 While the FCRA does not contain specific standards or procedures for the furnisher’s investigation, the courts consistently have adopted the “reasonable investigation” standard that requires that the furnisher conduct a substantive inquiry “to determine whether the disputed information can

Fair Credit Reporting: 6.10.4.2.1 What information must be considered

Because the furnisher’s reasonable investigation must be a good faith effort to ascertain the truth, a reasonable investigation must answer the substance of the consumer’s dispute and may not simply be a pro forma record review that merely begs the question. The CDV permits a furnisher to simply check a box indicating that the disputed information has been verified. Checking the box without conducting the underlying investigation of the claim is also inadequate.

Fair Credit Reporting: 6.10.6.1 Importance of Reporting Investigation Results

One role of the furnisher in conducting its own investigation of disputed information is to help the CRAs meet their “gatekeeper” responsibilities786 to ensure that consumer reports are accurate and complete and contain no unverifiable information.787 For this reason, the FCRA specifically requires that the furnisher not only investigate the disputed information788 but report the results of its investigation back to the CRA.

Fair Credit Reporting: 6.10.6.2 Furnisher Must Report the Results of Its Investigation to the Reporting Agency That Provided Notice of the Dispute

The furnisher must report the results of its investigation to the CRA that notified it of the dispute and triggered the furnisher’s duties.793 It is not sufficient for a furnisher to merely conduct a reasonable investigation; it must also convey the results back to the CRA.794 Failing to convey the investigation results to the CRA or reporting false, confusing, or inconsistent information to the CRA is a separate basis for liability.795 Note, howev

Fair Credit Reporting: 6.10.6.5 Time for Investigation and Reporting Results Is Limited

The furnisher must complete its investigation and report the results before expiration of the time allowed to the CRA to complete its reinvestigation.841 Normally, reinvestigations conducted by CRAs must be completed within thirty days, with one extension allowed when the CRA receives additional information from the consumer in the interim.842 The thirty-day period begins on the date that the CRA receives the consumer’s notice of dispute.843 If, ho

Fair Credit Reporting: 6.10.6.6 Report of Investigation Results May Be Electronic

The nationwide CRAs maintain an automated clearinghouse, as required by law, for furnishers to use to report the results of investigations that find inaccurate or incomplete information.849 Furnishers are not legally required to use this automated clearinghouse but are strongly urged to do so by the nationwide CRAs. Consequently, most results are reported electronically, using the clearinghouse, and in response to the automated version of the Consumer Dispute Verification form (ACDV).850

Fair Credit Reporting: 6.10.7 Applicability of the Statute of Limitations to Private Enforcement of Furnisher Violations

The FCRA’s statute of limitations expires the earlier of (1) two years after the date of discovery by the plaintiff of the violation, or (2) five years after the date of the violation.851 The furnisher’s duties under section 1681s-2(b) commence at the earliest only when it receives a request for investigation from a CRA.852 Thus, an actionable violation can only occur when it breaches one of those duties, not when it reported the underlying inaccurate information or otherwise took action for whi

Fair Credit Reporting: 6.11 Furnisher Liability for Related Torts and State Law

Because of the FCRA limitation on private enforcement other than in the context of a dispute and reinvestigation initiated through a consumer reporting agency, the consumer must often turn to legal theories outside the FCRA to establish liability of a creditor or other party furnishing inaccurate information to a CRA prior to a section 1681s-2(b) dispute. The most readily available alternative is a tort claim, such as defamation.

Fair Credit Reporting: 6.13.2 Problems with Debt Collectors As Furnishers

The information reported by debt collectors can be uniquely unreliable.879 This is particularly true with regard to tradelines reported by debt buyers, who purchase portfolios of defaulted debt and have neither first-hand knowledge of the accuracy of the information they provide, nor the documentation to support it.880

Fair Credit Reporting: 6.13.4 Debt Collectors As Consumer Reporting Agencies

Occasionally, debt collectors operate as CRAs. A collection agency (or a creditor) will meet the definition of a consumer reporting agency if it regularly furnishes information, beyond its own transactions or experiences with consumers, to third parties for use in connection with consumers’ transactions.906 But merely reporting its own experience with the consumer will not make it a consumer reporting agency.907

Student Loan Law: 7.2 Fresh Start—Time-Limited COVID Relief Program

A number of significant emergency relief programs were put in place to help borrowers manage their federal student loans during the COVID-19 pandemic and recover from the related economic disruptions. These emergency relief programs include the student loan payment pause (payment pause),6 which temporarily suspended loan payment obligations, interest accrual, and collections beginning in March 2020.

Student Loan Law: 13.1 Overview

In most cases, when a borrower’s application for a federal student loan discharge is denied, the borrower has two options: (1) pursue an administrative review from the Department of Education (the Department) or (2) challenge the denial in federal court—most often under the Administrative Procedure Act. Under some circumstances, the borrower can immediately choose either option to appeal the discharge denial.

Fair Credit Reporting: 8.5.1.1 Importance and Role of Adverse Action Notices

Users of consumer reports that take an adverse action against consumers must provide notice of that adverse action.94 For consumers with a bad credit history, this notice, given at the moment when the consumer is expecting to receive an approval, constitutes a “teachable moment” that may drive the consumer to improve their credit history.